The Time We Kill
by Hateofme
Summary: Rachel Winters meets and leaves Merle Dixon in an unconventional way one week before he is handcuffed to a rooftop. What will she do when meets him again and the group for the first time? Better yet, what will he do? She did leave him to die after all... What does the group have to say about that-what does Daryl have to say? Merle/OFC/Daryl
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- Sooo as I was sitting staring at the screen and wondering what I could possibly type for the next chapter of The Domino Effect, this came to mind and I had to run with it! Hopefully giving myself some space from that story and working on this one will cure this insane writers block! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! **

**~hateofme**

Rick Grimes was just about certain he was fucked. He had finally made it to Atlanta, finally saw that ray of sunshine crack through the grey, only to have his horse literally eaten out from under him. As if life itself were laughing at him it saw fit to throw him another ray of sunshine in the form of a tanker. That wasn't the laughing part though... Feeling relatively safe in his self inflicted death trap, even though he'd had to shoot a walker, he swore he heard the voice of god himself come over the tanks radio.

"Hey, you! Dumbass." The voice crackled through the static.

He was fairly certain that god wouldn't swear; he was proven right. It wasn't god. The man on the radio instructed him to make a run for it, forgoing his bag of guns.

"Are you even listening to me?! It's not an option!" The voice snapped full of desperation and anger.

Rick hurriedly looked around the tank for weapons, and then rushed out of the tank, smashing in a walkers head before he had even gotten his whole body out of he hatch. Counting his shots he ran, shooting what undead he could as he went.

"Oomph!" He tripped, flailing his arms wildly and cursing himself as he fell flat on his face.

This was how he knew life was laughing at him; he wasn't a clumsy man by a long shot. It figured that right now, as he was literally running for his life, he would pick the time to start developing into a bumbling fool. He lifted his head to come face to face with the remnants of what used to be a businessman, old flesh and sinew hanging from his teeth. He kept his eyes open, staring into the walkers eyes; if this was how he was going to meet his end he was gonna do it with some god damn dignity. The putrid breath puffed hotly on his face and its jaws snapped. Rick steeled himself when suddenly- "THWACK!"- The metallic ringing and fresh breeze went unregistered for a moment.

"Unless you're bit, get your ass up!" A woman's voice barked at him urgently.

He blinked and scrambled to his feet, noting the shovel in the woman's hands. "C'mon!" He grabbed her arm and tugged her to where his radio voice had told him to meet. As they rounded the corner into an alleyway they almost ran head-on into a smaller asian man.

"Woah! Not dead!" The man exclaimed holding his hands up. He gave a quick double take at the woman, confused as to where she came from.

The three ran, following the asian man and scrambled up a fire-escape ladder. He held out his hand to the two as they paused to catch their breath. "Nice shooting Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff, come to clean up the town?" He scoffed and shook his head slightly. "Name's Glenn."

"Rick. Thank you." They turned to the woman and for the first time Rick really saw her, and what he saw had his jaw dropping. She had long waist length dark brown hair, light brown almond shaped eyes, and was probably only about five to five foot four. He was fairly sure she was pretty tan, but it was hard to tell with all the grime and muck covering her. The jaw dropper though; that would be the fact that she wore no top save for a black bra and an obviously much too large men's leather vest, and she was barefoot.

. . .

Rachel Winters (otherwise known as Ray) peered at the two men distrustfully; the last male she had come in contact with, well, lets just say they didn't leave on such good terms.

"What's your name?" The man named Rick asked earning him a confused look from Glenn. Obviously he had thought they knew each other.

"She's not with you?" Glenn asked.

Rick shook his head. "Nah, she saved me back there though." He turned to look directly into her eyes. "Miss? We aren't going to hurt you, can you tell us your name?"

Ray resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Of course I can, but do you two really think we should just be standing around out here?"

That seemed to snap them into action and they followed Glenn across the rooftop and down a staircase into an alley. It was clear save for four walkers milling around aimlessly. Glenn brought out a handheld walkie and relayed the information to the man on the other end, including that he had found two newcomers. Two men in riot gear jumped out a door and beat the walkers down, rushing the group inside.

A pretty blond woman rushed at Rick and Rachel brandishing a gun. "We're dead because of you." She snarled aiming the gun at Ricks head, apparently not thinking Ray was to much of a threat. "You just rang the dinner bell." She motioned to the front doors as the hordes began to crack at the glass.

"Come on Andrea, calm down." A middle aged hispanic man tried to reason.

Andrea shook him off. " And who are you?" She rounded on Ray.

She eyed the gun and the woman distastefully. "Well, I'm just a tad terrified of guns in my face; seems to have shaken me up so badly I forget." She snapped.

"Everyone just calm down!" The hispanic man spoke again. "My names Morales. This here is Jacqui." He nodded to a black woman she hadn't noticed and then to a large black man. "This is T-dog, and you've already met Glenn and Andrea. Can I ask what the hell you two were doing out there?"

Rick sighed. "My names Rick, Rick Grimes and I was coming here for the safe zone and to try and find my family."

Everyones eyebrows rose, including Rachel's. Did the man not see the town just now? There was no fucking safe zone. "Thats a pipe dream." Someone spoke up. "Theres no safe zone. We've been staying outside of town a ways, with a larger group."

They all turned to her, apparently it was her turn. "Names Rachel Winters, just call me Ray though. I'm not looking for anyone and I'm sure as hell not looking for a non-existent safe zone." She scoffed. "Just trying to survive, like everyone else."

The woman named Jacqui spoke up. "Honey, what happened your shirt? And your shoes? It's a wonder you've survived at all without them."

Ray had the decency to blush. "They were misplaced about a week ago."

"You haven't been able to find anything else?" Jacqui asked obviously worried for her, although she wasn't sure why.

"Don't care about the shirt, and the shoes? Got tired of waiting for something better to come along; decided to take a chance and hope for the best." She said vaguely, a hint of a smile playing around the corners of her mouth.

There was obviously more to the story but at that moment shots rang out above them. "Oh god, is that Dixon?" Andrea snapped. the group rushed up the stairs with Glenn, Rick, and Ray trailing behind.

"So, uh, misplaced?" Glenn grinned at her a little hesitantly.

Ray looked at the man and decided she liked him; he seemed so open, and that was a quality she had to appreciate. "Tried to get my rocks off with some guy and walkers interrupted." She grinned back, enjoying the way his face went red. Rick sputtered and coughed behind them "Pease," she said dryly. " Don't tell me you haven't wished to get laid since this whole thing started."

Rick coughed some more. "I-uh..."

"Got to take my opportunities where I can get them." She chuckled slapping the man on the back. She turned back to Glenn to see him eyeing her vest. "Yes?"

He shook his head. "Nothing...just know a guy who used to wear a vest like that-ditched it awhile ago though, said it was too hot."

Rachel shrugged, she knew it wasn't the same one; the guy she got this from didn't willingly give it up. As they reached the roof, chaos had apparently ensued, and Rachel's jaw dropped when she saw why.

. . .

Merle Dixon enjoyed the simple things in life; he liked to fuck, drink, get high, and shoot shit. You'd think in the middle of people dying and coming back to life to eat ya no one would mind if ya shot the fuckers. It seemed everyone minded.

"Ought'a be more polite ta tha man wit tha gun, jus' common sense." He taunted.

He wasnt entirely to sure how it happened, but between that fool taco bender and the damn nigger, he lost it. This place was goin' ta shit, an' he wasn' about ta let them drag him down to. Besides, beatin' the piss outta tha' fat lipped fuck put him in a damn good mood.

"Democracy time ya'll!" He grinned as they rushed to help T-dog. "I vote me ta be tha leader- who else? C'mon now, don't be shy." he grinned waving the gun around.

"Still a prick I see." A woman's voice startled him.

. . .

The second Ray heard his voice she knew it was him. She cringed and tried to edge her way behind Glenn; it didn't work as he ran off to help T-dog. Her next best bet was Rick. She turned to look at him and realized that there was really no way she was going to just magically stay invisible. Even if she hid behind Rick she was fairly sure he was gearing up to run over there and 'assist' anyway. she sighed to herself.

"Still a prick, I see." She called walking up behind the man.

He almost dropped his gun as he turned to face her. "I'ma throw ya off this damn roof!" He roared and lunged for her.

The whole scene seemed surreally choreographed as Rick hit him in the back of his head with the butt of a gun, and T-dog ad Morales dragged him to a pipe, which Rick then cuffed him to. He shook his head dazedly. " Ya fuckin' thievin' cunt.' He managed.

"You stole my shoes!" She cried, outraged.

"I got ya different ones." He dismissed her with a wave.

"Off a dead woman!"

"Still shoes."

"She was still crawling! Her feet were still in them!"

"Ya stole my leathers." He snapped back referring to his vest.

"You grabbed my ass!"

"Ya asked me to!"

I didn't think you'd do it!"

"Ya left me ta die ou' there bitch!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

The group had been watching them volley back and forth and she was surprised they didn't have whiplash as they looked at her incredulously, distrust written all over their faces.

She scoffed. "Are you trying to tell me if you had noticed them first you wouldn't have run off either?"

"Ya knew I couldn' run." He spat back at her.

"That true?" Rick asked, dreading the answer.

She nodded her head affirmatively.

"Why?" Rick sounded angry. "What were you thinking, leaving someone to fend on their own when they cant even run?"

She scowled. "I was thinking that with his pants around his ankles I didn't have to outrun the geeks-I just had to outrun him. Besides, he threw my shoes out."

"Hold up." Andreas voice cut across the choked laughter and talking. "When did all this happen?"

"About a week or so ago." Ray looked at her quizzically; what did that matter? A look of comprehension dawned on everyones face aside from hers and Ricks. The man handcuffed to the pipe glowered at her; his eyes promising the worst sort of revenge.

Morales turned to look at the man with disgust. "So the whole time you were out there telling us you were hunting? You were sneaking back here to look for a lay?"

The man spat at Morales' feet. "Not tha' it's any ya business but the lay woulda jus' been a perk. I ain't riskin' my neck fer some snatch."

Andrea turned on Ray once again. "How long have you and Merle known each-other? How long has this been going on? Do you realize how many people you could have been putting at risk?" She shouted, rapidly firing off questions.

Rachel searched her brain rapidly- who the fuck was Merle? She eyed each of the men and women, making sure to address them by name in her head, until finally coming to her ex-potential end of the world screw.

"Are you kidding me?" She addressed the man completely ignoring Andrea. "Your name is Merle? Dear god," She snorted. "How much did you get teased as a child? What kind of name is that?"

"When I git outta these cuffs ya better run, girlie. I'ma kick ya thievin' ass an' feed it ta tha walkers." The man now known as Merle snarled at her, tugging at the cuffs threateningly.

Rachel smirked and walked behind the large pipe he was cuffed to and then leaned over it ruffling his hair condescendingly. "But _first_ you have to get out." She laughed as she sauntered away, the sound of his swears and promises of pain at her back.


	2. Chapter 2

_**~One week earlier~**_

Rachel almost screamed as she felt a large hand grab her arm and yank her into the pharmacy.

"Ya scream an' bring them geeks down on us, I won't hesitate ta shoot ya in tha fuckin' leg an' leave ya for bait, ya got it?" A raspy voice snarled in her ear.

She nodded, yeah she got it. "Screaming equals bait." she whispered, rolling her eyes.

"The fuck ya doin' out here by ya'self anyway?" The man snapped as he walked silently over to the back of the pharmacy.

She sighed and followed him, making sure her knife was in her belt. "Scavenging, same as you." She eyed him as he tossed pill bottle after pill bottle to the ground, growing more agitated. "Well, maybe not _exactly_ the same as you."

"Shut tha fuck up woman, can't hear myself think." He snapped.

"Pretty sure all the silence in the world couldn't solve that problem."

He rounded on her. "The fuck tha's supposed ta mean, ya lil bitch?"

She rolled her eyes. "It means you'd have to think in order to be able to hear it." His face turned an angry red and she grabbed his wrist unexpectedly, dragging him over to the far corner of pills behind glass.

"What's this shit?" He snarled yanking his hand away from her.

"You're a junkie, right? Instead of trashing the place and looking for hours, here. This is the shit you want." She pointed at the shelves. "Gotta say though, being a junkie before all this happened was just plain stupid; now its a death wish. You want to go out so bad, gun to the head might be easier, just saying."

He shouldered her roughly out of the way, almost knocking her down. "Shut tha fuck up. I ain't optin' out, jus' need me a little buzz. Live a little." He grinned at her holding out a handful of pills.

Ray eyed the pills distastefully. "I'd rather live a lot, thanks."

"Fine ya goody lil cunt. More for me." He shrugged and began bringing the entire handful to his mouth.

"What the hell are you doing!" She slapped at his hand, sending the drugs flying. "I already told you a gun would be easier! What, you want to OD here and watch those things dig into you as you go into a fucking coma!?"

He looked at her with eyes narrowed in rage. "Listen up darlin', I know my drugs so back tha fuck off. Ya ever waste my shit again I'll fuckin' backhand ya."

Rachel returned the glare; why was she even here? She didn't give a shit about this man, it wasn't her problem anyway. Well, he had saved her... And she knew she didn't want his death by pills on her conscience; she admittedly had no clue why she showed him where the drugs were in the first place. She watched as he counted out his pills; he was kind of attractive. Tall, muscular, rough and gruff with a voice made to get panties wet.

She wasn't promiscuous by any stretch of the imagination, only having slept with one man one time about five years ago. It had been such a disappointment that she had completely giving up on sex, she might have killed herself if she went through another pathetic experience like that again. Although...she eyed the man again, maybe the zombie apocalypse was the time to live a little. Not with his stupid pills, but maybe there were other things...right?

As if he sensed her stare he looked up at her grinning lecherously. "Still gonna say no ta livin' a little, sugar?"

Rachel ignored the outstretched hand with new pills, and jumped up on the counter swinging her legs. "Why do you think getting high is a good idea?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

He looked her up and down critically searching for any signs of mockery, finding none he went back to counting pills and muttered. "Prob'bly for tha same reason ya think wearin' them tore ta shit shoes is a good idea."

_Huh? What did those two things have to do with each-other? _"Uhh, what?"

He sighed irritably. "Ya ain't got nothin' else right?" At her nod he continued. "So what'chu gonna do: go without an' hope everything's gonna work jus' fine an' it'll all be ok, or keep on usin' what'chu know till sum'thin better comes along?" He didn't wait for an answer and turned back to his pills.

She sensed that that was more than he usually talked, or at least on a deeper level. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a low pitched groan and the sound of shuffling. The man immediately turned toward the noise, pinpointing it, she noticed however, that he kept his gun in its holster and opted to use a hatchet she hadn't noticed earlier. A grey decaying woman stumbled out from among the shelves; she had obviously been chewed on quite a bit before she turned as there were multiple large chunks missing from various parts of her body.

To her shock Merle chuckled. "Lookie here, looks like sum'thin better came along after all darlin'."

He shoved the woman down and swiftly turned, chopping off both of her feet in a surprisingly smooth movement before walking casually over to her and chucking the feet and attached shoes in her lap. Rachel looked up at the man; part of her was in awe, even though he obviously was slightly sadistic, he was still a major badass. The other part of her though, was completely repulsed, the woman was still dragging herself across the floor over to them, with trails of tar like blood coming from her ankles. She said nothing as he winked at her and turned to finish off the pathetic thing.

"Gonna try them shoes or what?" He asked glancing up at her as he wiped the axe on his pants.

"No!" She said panicked, looking down at the disgusting shoes that probably would have been cute, if not for the severed feet inside and the decay splattered all over, inside and out of them.

Her breathing picked up in spite of the disgusting situation and surroundings, as he narrowed his eyes and stalked up to her. She had no clue what he was doing and when he reached his hands down and wrapped them around her calves, bringing them up to his waist she blushed wildly. The man chuckled lowly, licking his lips, and then, just as he was inches from her face, he grinned widely, swiftly swiped her shoes off of her feet, and ran up the staircase they had passed on the way in with a loud guffaw.

_What the fuck just happened?_

Rachel shook herself and jumped off of the counter, chucking the disgusting shoes, and jogging swiftly after him. She was out of breath and damn near ready to pass out when she finally caught up with him all the on the very top of the roof. She growled as she caught sight of him at the very moment he threw her shoes off of the roof and down into a walker infested street.

"What the fuck was that!" She hissed angrily marching up and poking him in the chest.

She swore she was going to get a crick in her neck from craning her head to glare at his face. As she glared she noticed that he seemed to be caught off guard as well. Did he normally not act like that? Maybe it was the drugs?

His moment of confusion passed quickly. "So sugartits, what say we go bump uglies somewhere."

She sniffed derisively. "I don't know about you, but anything on me you'd be interested in 'bumping' is definitely not ugly."

The man laughed aloud. "Ya kinda funny, wound a little tight but, I reckon we cin fix tha'." He winked again.

She couldn't help it, she laughed with him. "Well, I guess it is the end of the world..." She trailed off, noting with more than a little amusement as his eyebrows shot into his hairline.

Not more than five minutes later she found her back slammed against a concrete wall on top of the roof. She wrapped her legs around his waist trying to brace herself as he virtually attacked her. His mouth was on hers hard and insistent, and she was positive that if the sex was even a tenth as good as the kiss, she just might lock him up somewhere to use a her personal sex slave.

"So, you all talk or do you not know enough about sex to grab my ass and help hold me up?" She asked as her back felt like it was bruising and her legs felt like jelly from the exhausting run up the stairs.

"Sounds like ya askin' me ta grab yer ass darlin'." He had a seemingly permanent flirtatious attitude and grin to match.

She tapped her chin in mock thought. "I just may be, darlin'," she mocked. "I just may be."

She squealed as he did just that. "Anythin' else ya need me ta grab, jus' ask." He grinned.

Seconds later a loud ripping filled her ears. "Hey!" Ray griped as the man ripped her t-shirt in two.

"Don'cha worry darlin', dead broad downstairs has a new one for ya." He chuckled at his own joke.

"You're hilarious." She said sarcastically.

"Jus' one a my _many_ talents." He waggled his eyebrows and set her down, throwing off his leather vest and beginning to work on his pants.

"Would you really have shot me and thrown me out downstairs?" She asked suddenly.

"Prob'bly." He shrugged "Since I didn't though, s'good ta know ya have your uses." He laughed to himself again either not noticing or not caring how angry that statement made her.

As his pants dropped around his ankles they both stopped, frozen in horror as they heard the door to the roof slam open, and the tell tale noises of the undead, as they began to pour onto the roof.

_Fuck! _Her first instinct was to run, her second, to help the man who was hopping around in a way that would have been comical had it not been for the seriousness of the situation. Of course she still was a teensy tiny bit angry at him...fuck this she had her 'uses' and so did he. She snagged the leather vest off the floor grinning, blew a kiss to the stunned man, and waved as she scrambled down the fire escape.

_Aarrgghh!_ She couldn't just leave him there! She scrambled back up, grabbed a large rock that she assumed had been used to hold the door open at one time, and heaved it at a large pipe near her, resulting in a much louder sound than she had anticipated. She cringed but felt better for a moment as the undead turned to face the noise giving him an opportunity to run. Her last view of the man had his face almost purple with rage, finally managing to get his pants back up and buckled, and sprinting away from the walkers, clear to the other side of the building where she knew there must be another fire escape. At least he had a chance she mussed, hitting the floor and running. She knew enough to run the opposite direction of where he would be exiting, and just kept running, bare feet and all. It wasn't until two days later she realized she never found out his name; probably didn't matter, the odds of seeing one another again were slim to none.


	3. Chapter 3

Later, with Merle still cuffed to the pipes, Rachel and T-dog were told to stay up on the roof and try to contact camp. In Rachel's opinion, T was beat to shit and she was shirtless an shoeless, so that automatically made them useless for anything besides babysitting duty. T-dog eyed her for a moment before speaking.

"You really try to get with that asshole?" He jerked his head toward Merle.

Rachel looked at T; she really couldn't take offense. Merle, it turned out, was racist although she hadn't known that at the time, she couldn't say she hadn't known he was an asshole though. "I think he was nicer to me when it was just the two of us."

T scoffed. "That man don't know how to be nice."

Ray grinned slyly. "I didn't say he was nice, I said he was nicer to me; still an asshole though."

T-dog grinned a little, as long as this girl didn't spout off the same bullshit that Merle did, he was cool with her. "He really give you shoes with geek feet in 'em?"

At this Merle snorted angrily. "Damn straight I did. Do sum'thin nice, get a god damn herd a walkers for ya trouble." He muttered under his breath.

"Shut up Merle." Ray smiled antagonistically at the man. "T, think you can check that radio out again?"

"Sure thing." T nodded. It seemed for a brief moment that they might have gotten through to someone but if he did it was over before it really began. "Anybody out there? Hello? Anybody read?" He shook his head and tried again. "I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice 'cause I'm sick and tired of hearing mine."

"Yeah, well, tha' makes two of us." Merle snapped. "Why don't cha knock tha' crap off? You're givin' me a headache, boy."

T scowled at him. "Why don't you pull your head out of your ass? Maybe your headache will go away. Try some positivity for a change. Damn."

Rachel snorted and tried unsuccessfully to hold it back.

"Ya think tha's funny, ya bitch?" Merle snarled at her.

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Seems like pretty solid advice, ever try it?" She grinned.

"Tell ya what. Ya git that hacksaw over there an' help me saw through these cuffs an' I'll be all Sammy Sunshine positive for ya." He smiled and jerked his head. "C'mon ya two," he turned to Ray, "I'll even take ya out round tha side and fuck your little heart out."

Rachel shook her head. "Aww Merle, what makes you think you still stand a chance with me? I have T here, big strong-"

Merle interrupted. "Takes a beatin' like a pussy."

Ray jumped back in. "Has a higher chance of getting pussy..." She was surprised when Merle and T both barked out a laugh.

"Think anyone has a chance at yer pussy darlin'." Merle drawled. "Seein's how ya don't even find out tha mans name ya try ta fuck."

Ray grinned. "Pot, kettle, black, all that jazz?"

Merle grinned and she was absolutely shocked that he understood the reference. "But bein' a man I git a pat on tha back fer gettin' ya ta drop panties wit'out knowin' my name." He pointed out.

"Ahh, yes. The unfair double standard. I suppose it might help my case if I tell just how many men I've slept with?"

"Prob'bly hurt it more like." He sniggered. "Cin ya remember them all?"

Ray put her hand to her chest, feigning hurt. "Merle! You've just teased your way out of ever getting in these panties!" She grabbed T's arm and helped him to stand. "Come on T, don't want to give this one here a free show." She winked over her shoulder at Merle as T laughed.

"You really didn't know his name?" He asked in disbelief as they walked away.

"Hey! He didn't know mine either!" She sensed she wasn't really helping her case when T just raised his eyebrows and shook his head. Oh well.

. . .

Ok, this was just plain disgusting, right? They were chopping a walker up and decorating Rick and Glenn like morbid Christmas trees...so why on earth did she think it was slightly interesting with a dash of hilarious? Especially since Glenn apparently had the weakest stomach in the world.

"Oh my god." Glenn groaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Not now! Think of something else;" Rick demanded. "Puppies and kittens."

"Yeah, _dead_ puppies and kittens." T-dog muttered.

Ray snorted while Glenn barfed.

"What is wrong with you two?" Andrea snapped giving them looks of absolute disgust.

Glenn looked up at them, his face waxen, as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I hate you guys." He said weakly.

"It's ok Glenn." She grinned as she draped an intestine around his neck. "Pretending you're a Christmas Tree with feet and sinew in place of tinsel, is all my way of blocking out reality."

T let out a choked laugh and even Glenn smiled half-assed at her. "This is soo not what my tree looked like."

"That's just because you didn't have any vision." She scoffed playfully, rubbing a handful of guts on his chest. "There!" She proclaimed, stepping back to admire her handiwork, stealthily pocketing the hunting knife that had been handed to her to accomplish the job.

. . .

Back on the roof things seemed to be going fairly well; meaning Rick and Glenn hadn't been eaten yet. Rachel broke off from the rest of the group watching the progress below, and plopped down by Merle.

"That asshole's out on the street with the handcuff keys?" He grunted at her.

T took the opportunity to taunt Merle, dangling the keys in front of him. In her opinion this ridiculous testosterone battle was getting old. Upon seeing a look of hopelessness flash across Merle's face she decided it was cruel as well.

"Don't worry Merle, worst comes to worst, I'll let you out." She tried to grin.

"Don't need your fuckin' help. I ain't askin' for shit from none y'all pansy asses." He turned on her and snarled.

Ray looked at him, lips pressed into a tight line. "I'll keep that in mind." She said standing stiffly, and walked away.

T looked at Merle and shook his head, scoffing.

"Ya got sum'thin ya wanna say, boy?" Merle barked.

"Yeah," T-dog glared. "That girl's the only one here determined to treat you like a human being. Takes a real dumbass to fuck that up." He snapped and walked away after her.

_Fuck all these stupid mother fuckers! _He thought as he watched the dumb nigger catch up to her. He was a fuckin Dixon! He didn't take shit and he didn't need shit from nobody. Ain't no way a piece of ass, no matter how sweet, was gonna git him ta play beggar man for these stupid fucks.

He began re-thinking that as soon as the entire group dashed out and left him, Rachel near the front of the damn pack.

"YA CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!" Merle screamed at them. As T-dog turned, obviously torn, and scrambled over to unlock him, he actually felt grateful to the black man. A'course then he pretty much threw the damn keys down a fuckin' pipe of all things.

"Ya did that on purpose!" He yelled desperately. That stupid nigger! An' now he was stuck up here, good as dead!

Hours and hours went by and Merle wasn't even sure what was going on. He knew that he was starting to hallucinate, but couldn't bring himself to care; it was a welcome escape from the cuffs, at least in his mind.

"That's right. You heard me, bitch. You got a problem? Bring it on if you're man enough, Or take it up the chain if you're a pussy." Merle laughed. "You heard me, you pussy-ass noncom bitch. You ain't deaf. Take it up the damn chain of command or you can kiss my lily-white ass."

He chuckled again with a wheeze. "That's right. That's what I said. You heard me. And then this idiot, he takes a swing, You know, and well..." Another laugh, "Oh, you shoulda seen the look on his face when I punched out his front teeth. Yeah, five of 'em. Pow! Pow! Jus' like that."

He shook his head lost in thought. "Huh. Oh my God. Sixteen months in the stockade... Oh, that's what them teeth cost me." He smiled, reminiscing. "Ah, that was... that was hard time, but by God, it was worth every minute of it. Jus' ta see that prick spit his teeth out on the ground. Yessir, worth every minute."

_Wait-what the hell? Fuck! No! No! No! No! No! _"AAAAARRRRHHHHHHGGGGG!" He yelled rasping at the darkening sky, pulling at the cuffs maniacally, making his wrist bleed. Tears started to form, blurring his vision even further.

"Jesus, Jesus please! Help me!" Merle slumped against the pipe, exhausted. "Help me now! Show me the way. Go on, tell me what to do." He worked his way up to a raging scream, and by the end he was pulling at his arm crazily, his voice breaking off in an angry howl.

Everyone left him, and the girl? A'course she left him, she did it once already right? Same ol' shit for the Dixon's; good enough ta fuck, but that was it. Don't ya go throwin' away ya reputation for a Dixon. Daryl never understood that shit, why nobody wanted anythin' ta do wit them. S'ok though, he showed him, helped him learn. Can't count on nobody but each other. Other people, they weren't worth two squirts a piss, use 'em an' leave 'em, that's it.

"Darylina!" He roared at the sky, still wrenching his arm, rattling the chain. "Ya best be gettin' ya ass down here! We fuckin' blood, baby brother! Kin!"

. . .

Rachel launched herself into the cube-van breathing heavily as Morales slammed the door down. _Fuck! That was close! _She slid down the wall as Rick took off. Taking a few deep breaths she looked around the van, panic growing as her eyes made a complete circle, finally landing on T.

His lips were pursed and his eyes were shiny, and he shook his head at her. "I dropped the damn keys."

She was amazed that she stayed calm; well, outwardly anyway. Inside, inside she felt like she had shriveled up and died but at the same time exploded. Like she was numb but still felt way too much. What kind of people was she with? Hell, when she ditched him on the roof that first time he wasn't chained up! She had even distracted the motherfuckers so he had a better shot!

"You just left him there to get torn apart? Not even able to run?" She zoned in on T-dog.

He hung his head. "I chained the door. Ain't no geeks getting through that. I'm sorry."

Rachel stood and squeezed his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "Stop the van Rick."

"Oh please." Scoffed Andrea disdainfully, interrupting. "You already left him to die on a roof before, don't pretend you care. It's not like we all don't know you would do the same to any of us in a heartbeat."

Ray narrowed her eyes at the woman. "You know, Andrea," she started mockingly. "With that stick lodged so far up your ass, I have to say I'm surprised when you open up your incredibly large, presumptuous mouth, it doesn't pop out and say hello. But, that's neither here nor there is it?" She sneered before turning to Rick. "I'm not saying it again, Rick."

She could see the internal battle playing across the man's expressive face; he knew it was wrong to leave Merle and he didn't want that knowledge. Finally, as she was getting ready to do something drastic, he gave a strangled grunt, and the van screeched to an abrupt halt.

"I'll come back for you." He looked at her sternly, as if willing her desperately to believe him. He reached behind him and pulled out the high power browning pistol he had taken from Merle earlier that day and handed it to her. "I owe you, I won't disrespect that. You have my word."

Rachel nodded, grabbing the gun with distaste. "Counting on it." She quickly jumped out of the cube-van and headed back toward the walker infested city.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N~ Fair warning everyone! My brain came up with some stuff in this chapter that I classify as morbidly humorous-others might call it plain gross and disrespectful of walkers. If it offends I'm sorry! Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I'm loving hearing all your thoughts!**

**~hateofme**

Rachel had always been a planner. All the time; meticulous lists, charts, ideas, you name it-she made a list for it. Every possible scenario was played out in her head, every pro and con for each decision carefully weighed. And then one day, after being transferred to yet another receptionist job (albeit in a completely different state, Georgia of all places) her brand new, didn't know the meaning of the words hell no, obnoxious desk partner tried to eat her. There was something liberating about smashing in a hated co-workers face with a stapler; especially one that was a mindless, life-sucking drone _before_ they were bitten. Now, dead walking around may have changed the amount and the types of lists she made, but nothing could change that innate calculating instinct. She was counting on her observation and planning skills here.

The walk had taken a lot of work and by the time she made it back to the city darkness was falling fast. Just outside the city was a gate Glenn had told her about; he used it when he got supplies by himself. And right inside the gate was one walker straggler, all by her lonesome. Ray grinned in a way that might be considered evil as she grabbed her "new" knife out of her pocket. She was going to go incognito like Rick and Glenn; walker gut style.

She whistled lowly to get its attention; no sense running out and possibly getting surprised and swarmed. It turned jerkily toward her and slowly started dragging itself to the gate opening where she stood. As soon as it reached her she jammed the knife into its eye, cheering inwardly as it went down.

_Now to get to work._

Ray dragged it a little ways away from the fence, sliced off its clothes and stood with her hands on her hips, staring down at what used to be a woman, with what used to be a perfect body. Even her tits were still full and perky. _What the fuck?_ Dead bag of bones walking around tearing people's faces off and it still had better tits than her!

"Stupid barbie doll." She muttered, tilting her head and scrutinizing the walker with curiosity. Indeed, now that she said it, the used-to-be hot woman did resemble barbie...she snorted a laugh.

Coming soon to a store near you: it's walker barbie! Complete with perfect proportions, (please don't be alarmed if a body part falls off, thus making the proportions off balance-that is supposed to happen; and it comes at no extra cost!), luxurious long blond hair, (please don't brush; due to extensive decay hair will fall out, taking with it large chunks of scalp!), and a lovely, one-of-a-kind, blood spattered, yellow sundress!

_Probably should have seen the work psychiatrist... Aannyyway. _

Ray shook her head blushing at the non-existent people around to judge her callous in-head infomercial. She wasn't to sure how to begin but, what the hell? Guts are guts right? She stabbed into the woman's chest and stomach desperately trying to pull the knife long enough to make a decent sized slice. As she hit the woman's chest, she felt something akin to a melted gel ice pack pop, and a clear goo rose around her knife. _No. Way._ She immediately tried to smother the hysterical laughter she felt bubbling up-the woman had fake boobs! Feeling immensely better that she at least had a better real rack than the dead woman, she continued on with her "work".

Five minutes later the smell was beginning to get to her. She didn't have a full body suit like before either...really hope that won't end up being a problem... Ugh, the smell! No wonder Glenn barfed. Her stomach bubbled with acid as she fought down bile.

_Stop it! Think about something else! Writing, jumping, dancing, singing-wait! Sing a song!_ She was fairly sure her subconscious was out to mock and humiliate her, but having no better ideas...

"Great gross gobs of greasy grimy girlie guts," Ray muttered the jaunty tune lowly, adding her own renditions. "Mutilated mammary meat, kinda big for barbie feet, and I forgot my spoon."

_There!_ She was done- and she felt such a bizarre mixture of shame, pride, and disgust- all with herself. Figuring she couldn't feel any more ashamed she quickly bent down and slipped out the woman's other implant, and pocketed it. Maybe Merle could pretend it was real and give himself good dreams. Was she this crazy before the world ended or was it a recent development?

She could hear Merle's shouting before she could even see the building. "Swear to god. Might just shoot you for all the trouble when I get up there." She muttered shaking her head.

Walkers had swarmed back to the structure, drawn by Merle's screams and rants. She knew she couldn't get to him the way she had left; if the walkers didn't get her T had chained the door. That left the fire escape... Getting into her role as a moaning groaning zombie, Rachel slowly made her way around the building, searching for the fire escape. She groaned for real when she located it with three walkers clawing at it, trying to figure it out like it was a rubrics cube.

Pretty sure there's no chance of hopping up there without those things figuring out you're not one of them, her brain taunted.

She really wished she would just shut up if she didn't have anything useful to say. _Oh god. I really am insane._

She made her way slowly toward the walkers with a pronounced limp and pathetic moan. Being shouldered by the walkers was no fun she decided as she worked her way in-between them, mimicking their pawing motions at the ladder. At a complete loss at what to do next she was shocked motionless when gunshots sounded a couple of blocks away. The walkers slowly turned to the sound and dragged themselves away and out of the alley. Thank god. She scrambled up the ladder as fast as she could before Merle's shouts brought any more out of the woodwork. She reached the roof and pulled herself up carefully looking around for Merle and any sign of walkers. Seeing no walkers she made her way over to the side where they had handcuffed Merle.

"That's okay. Never you mind, silly Christ boy." She heard Merle snarl. "I ain't begged you before. I ain't gonna start begging now. I ain't gonna beg you now! Don't you worry about me begging you ever!"

She jogged toward the pipe, confused when she didn't see him. Suddenly, he popped up from under the pipe, and her heart dropped at the sight. "I'll never beg you! I ain't gonna beg you! I never begged you before." Merle was borderline in tears with an old, mean looking hacksaw poised at his wrist.

"Merle!" She shouted running at him.

"Oh shit. No!" He rasped seeing her, scrambling for purchase on the saw.

"Put that down you idiot!" She snapped. It didn't work. Merle screamed at first in rage at her and then in pain; he had started to cut into his wrist. Without thinking she launched herself at him tore the saw out of his hands and flung it away. Now, it wasn't like she was expecting a grateful hug, really a grateful anything, but she sure as hell didn't expect the club like fist that came flying at the side of her head, toppling her like a ton of bricks.

. . .

Dixon's don't beg. What the fuck had he been thinkin'? He could git hisself out of this fuckin' mess. He strained reaching for the fucking saw. As soon as he got it he heard a noise and he looked up; there racing toward him was the most putrid vile walker he had ever seen. He hurriedly tried to saw at the cuffs, screaming when he realized it wasn't going to work.

"Oh shit! No!" He yelled seeing it advance on him.

There weren't no other option, he wasn't gonna go down like this. He raised the saw to his arm, desperately trying not to think about what he was doing, and began to saw. _Fuck! It fuckin' hurt!_ All of a sudden the walker barreled into him, snatching the hacksaw away and he saw red. That was his ticket outta here! Tha stupid fuck! He swung his fist as hard as he could, feeling slightly happy as he solidly connected with the side of its head. The thing slumped to the concrete and he braced himself for another attack...but it didn't come.

"Yeah! That's right! Ol' Merle's done shown ya not ta fuck wit me now didn't I!" He spat gleefully at it. Moments later he had a sinking feeling in his gut as he stared at the walker. More to the point as he stared at his Browning protruding from the top of her pants and recognized his vest covered in geek bits. Fuck.

. . .

Ray groaned, feeling like her head was split in two. It took a second or two but it all came rushing back, putting more pressure on what she felt was a literal crack straight through her brain. "You're a fucking asshole." She mumbled keeping her eyes squeezed shut.

Merle chuckled. "The fuck ya s'pect coming up here covered in blood an' shit?"

She cracked open her eyes and sat up slowly. "Certainly not a thank you, and definitely not a fist." She said dryly.

"Ya brung me somethin' ta git these cuffs off, woman?"

"Yes, of course. Just let me reach into my bra and pull out my blowtorch." She pretended to check down her breasts and then rolled her eyes at the man. Of course he was staring at her chest, after all, she just was to. She snorted to herself.

"Well now darlin'," he drawled grinning not at her, but still at her boobs. "Seems like ya didn't check well 'nough. I cin help ya make, uh..._doubly_ sure i's not hidin' in there somewhere." He raised eyebrows as she laughed at his 'double' quip. _Well, maybe this still had some potential._

"I think the KO disqualifies you from ever getting 'hands on' with me Merle. But," she exclaimed excitedly as she remembered something. She squirmed on the floor, too dizzy to stand, on reached into her pocket. She grinned throwing the implant at Merle's curious face.

"The hell?" He muttered holding it out and squinting in the now non-existent light.

Ray crawled over to him slowly, folding herself into his side, ignoring the dirty look he gave her and the way his entire body tensed.

"The fuck ya think yer doin', girl?" He said gruffly attempting to push her away.

She slapped his hand to the side. "I'm cold. And you punched me. Suck it up princess." She mumbled closing her eyes.

Merle cleared his throat. This was too close ta cuddlin' fer his liken', but truth be told he was too fuckin' tired ta deal wit it now. An' he was kinda cold himself. Instead of trying to sort through his confusion he looked back at the oval shaped pack of gel. "What's this then?" To his shock she giggled.

"I killed walker barbie."

"Huh?"

"Walker I'm covered in looked like a fucking barbie doll, well used to. Anyway she had damn near the best tits I've ever seen. That's one of them."

He looked again at the pack, confused as ever. "This here's a titty?"

Ray snorted. "Yep. Implants, you know? Gotta say I was relived to."

"Huh... Why's tha'?"

"Was pretty jealous that even a dead woman had a better pair than me. Least mine are real."

Merle's hand had managed to sneak around her waist and at her comment he stealthily slid it up under 'her' vest, quickly squeezing her breast. "Sure are sugartits."

"Stop feeling me up and go to sleep. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for inappropriate gestures and talk tomorrow."

He chuckled lowly. "Can't blame a man fer coppin' a feel. 'Sides, ya got a right nice pair, ain't no need ta be gettin' ya panties inna bunch cause some rich dead broad paid ta git hers." He breathed out another laugh as he slid his hand back down to rest on her waist.

"Aww, Merle. Was that a complement? Didn't know you had it in you."

He stiffened and bit out. "Weren't no compliment stupid, jus' talkin' facts. Shad'dup an' go ta sleep, ya yammerin's keepin' me up."

She didn't respond and Merle felt her breathing even out. Well, what the fuck was he s'posed to do now? She said she didn't have a key, so what was she doing here? _Dumb cunt just come all the way back here to have a fuckin' cuddle and fall asleep? And if she came back where was everyone else? Fuck!_ Too many damn questions were running around his head an' he already felt like shit. He looked down at her mess of hair and her head curled up on his chest. _Fuckin' tease is what she was._ Least tha human contact an' havin' someone ta talk to had calmed his brain a little. He squished the implant in his hand resisting he urge to laugh. _Girl was sorta twisted, cuttin' out a fake boob and giving it ta him like it was a fuckin' present...he kinda liked tha'._


	5. Chapter 5

When Rachel woke it was just beginning to get light and Merle was still asleep with his arm up in the air. _Shit. _Ok well she did feel a little bad that she had left him in the cuffs all night. She had been being sarcastic about the blowtorch of course, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to get him out...blow to the head had made things quite fuzzy though. _Oh well, might as well try it now._ She reached deep into her jeans front pocket and after a bit of searching pulled out a bobby pin. Biting the plastic edges off and bending it to a ninety degree angle, she gently stuck one end in the key hole and bent. Taking special care not to hit the nasty looking saw mark on his wrist, she took it out and bent it again further up in the opposite direction, creating an odd stair case looking shape. She put the pin back in the hole, then, on the very edge she bent it sharply down. As she heard the click she did a happy dance inside her head.

"The fuck?" Merle snarled angrily letting her know he was awake. "Thought 'cha said ya didn't have tha fuckin' key?"

"I didn't." He looked at her, disbelief showing through the absolute rage. She sighed, holding up the bobby pin. "Houdini trick, some guy taught me back home." She pocketed the handcuffs figuring Rick might want them back.

He didn't know whether to be impressed that she picked the lock or pissed that she left him in all night, eventually he settled for pissed. "So ya jus' leave me cuffed all fuckin' night? Fuckin' bitch! The fuck ya here fer anyways?" He snapped.

She put her hands to her hips, glaring at him. "I was here to help you, you ungrateful ass. And gee, I don't know, maybe the brick to the head made me a bit fuzzy."

"All y'all women are fuckin' drama queens, I didn't hit ya wit no brick."

"Felt like it anyway." She muttered. "Alright princess, ready to head out?" She asked attempting to sidestep his horrible (if well deserved) attitude. It worked for all of fifteen minutes two blocks down and trapped in yet another of Atlanta's numerous alleyways.

"Fuck!" He hissed staring at the walkers closing in on them. "The fuck ya doin'?"

She stared at all the doors in the alleyway, willing them to open. "Hoping someone is going to open a door and save our ass." She said dully.

"Bitch, ya best fuckin' think. I ain't above throwin' ya ass out ta distract them."

Just as she opened her mouth to respond she felt a sharp rap to the back of her head and the world went black.

. . .

"C'mon, cunt. Wake yer ass up." Were the first lovely words she was treated to along with a sharp elbow to the side courtesy of Merle.

"What happened?" She asked, trying to stare around the dimly lit room she found herself in.

"Couple a damn spic's snuck up when ya was makin' all tha' noise. Knocked ya out an' brought us back here." He muttered lowly, his eyes darting around the room.

"And you just stayed here to wait for me to wake up?" She asked skeptically.

His only response was to hold up his left fist. She was surprised when her right arm followed behind. _The cuffs. _She stared in disbelief at the sight of her right hand handcuffed to Merle's left. _Shit. _

"The fuck ya have them wit ya anyway?" He bit out still not looking at her.

She ignored the question. "So I take it these aren't just nice people being cautious."

He sent her a look that didn't even ask if she were stupid, but outright told her she was, and scoffed. "Yeah, they jus' stepped out ta bake us a cake."

At that moment the door swung open and Rachel gasped. A tall attractive man with wavy black hair, strong jaw, and killer smile walked into the room. "Alex?" She gasped. Well that didn't make any sense... She was positive that Alex had been the first walker she killed; that was the co-worker with the stapler right? So what the fuck was he doing walking around Atlanta?

The man's eyes narrowed dangerously, and too fast for anyone to react he had walked up and kicked her in the ribs.

She started to collapse but was held up slightly by the handcuffs. "What the crap!?" She gasped out.

The man that looked like Alex turned. "Matt. Alex," the mans voice started to break. "Was my twin. And you," he recovered his voice and now it was hard as steel. "Killed him with a god damn stapler."

Merle rounded on her looking begrudgingly impressed. "Ya killed a man wit a stapler?"

"He wasn't a man anymore, he was a walker, and he tried to eat me." Ray turned to Matt. "And what would you have had me do? Let him kill everyone?"

Matt's eyes were like slits and his rage was palpable. "I found him! **_I_** did! With his face all smashed in! It's not right! Looked at the cameras, I saw you do it!" He shouted.

Merle had been watching the conversation intently but now he was confused. "Ya jus' wanted ta leave 'em a geek?"

"No!" Matt yelled again, looking slightly unhinged. "He should have been taken care of by me! Put down painlessly at the very least! Shot to the head!"

"Oh, well, sorry about that." Rachel snapped. "You weren't there, and they frown on receptionists bringing their glocks to work." She refused to back down on something this stupid but in that moment the deranged look in his eyes told her maybe she should have. Three kicks to the stomach later she heard Merle drawl.

"Don't want ta be a wet blanket, boy, but I didn't do shit ta ya brother. An' I don't barely know this bitch. So if ya cin be a sport an' un-cuff me, I'll be on my way." He said lazily, raising an eyebrow at the man.

Matt looked taken aback for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter. Seconds later the laughter abruptly stopped as he got inches from Merle's nose. "Fuck. You." He hissed before slamming his fist into Merle's face.

Merle jerked up ready to brawl when he realized he was still cuffed to the girl. _Fuck! Damn woman was a liability, and even if he killed her he'd be draggin' walker fodder round Atlanta. _Two more men entered the room, grabbing them up roughly.

"Don't look so sad!" Matt jeered at Ray pinching her cheek almost lovingly before pulling back and slapping her hard. "We're gonna let you go!" He sniggered crazily.

Rachel and Merle looked at each other skeptically; they got the feeling being let go wasn't as happy or easy as Matt made it sound.

Ten minutes later the two knew they were right as they stood in front of a set of double doors, listening to the moaning and groaning beyond them.

Matt walked up to Merle and handed him his confiscated gun. "Give you a sporting chance." He grinned widely.

"My knife?" Ray snapped holding out her hand and tapping her foot. The only response she got was Matt in her personal body space and a moist whisper in her ear.

"He talked about you all the time, you know? Was sure he was gonna tap that. Hell, I was even there when him and his boys jumped ya in the alley. Did you know that was him?" Rachel stiffened as his hands ran along her bare sides.

"Shoulda never turned him down." Matt muttered again. As his hand ran up to the side of her breast she couldn't take anymore and swiftly brought her knee up hard between his legs.

"Bitch!" He roared. "Coulda made a place here for your ass if you had just put out willingly!" He turned still slightly hunched and yelled at his men as he limped out. "Throw 'em out!"

The men opened the doors quickly shoving them out and slamming them back shut. Merle looked down at Rachel who was grinning widely. He opened his mouth to say something-anything- but there was too much to ask and a whole helluvah lot a walkers headed their way.

"C'mon." He snapped tugging her arm with his.

She saw him bring out his gun and she looked at it confused; why would a man intent on killing them give Merle a gun? Shit. "Merle! Don't fucking shoot!"

"Bitch I ain't exactly worried bout drawin' more a these fuckers in." He snapped at her taking aim.

"He fucked with it!" She shouted.

Merle turned more than a little pissed. Not only were they outside with a horde, he had a gun he wasn't sure if he should shoot, a bitch that just screamed attracting what few walkers hadn't noticed them yet, and the same said bitch literally attached to his arm. Not to mention this was the second time in as many days he had been handcuffed and there was no time for her to pick the lock just now. He pocketed his gun and tugged her, making a run for it.

. . .

So far they had been lucky, well up till now. She and Merle had grabbed up two bricks off the floor as they ran away from Matt's building, and had managed to kill/stun quite a few walkers. Merle, due mostly to skill and general badassness, she, due mostly to luck and good reflexes. But now they were stuck...and honestly if it hadn't been a life or death situation she'd be turned on.

Merle had her braced up against the side of a wall in-between two very tall, putrid dumpsters, his body caging hers in. He had one hand holding her previously shaking and still shackled wrist still against the wall and the other over her mouth. They could hear the walkers shuffling by the entrance to the alley and they both tensed, determined not to make a sound. Ahhh who was she kidding? She was turned on. _Of course the general ambiance and odor could be better... _Her body felt like mush when the noises stopped, they hadn't come down the alley.

Merle tugged on her arm snapping her focus back to him. "Dammit woman. Pick the lock." He snarled dangling their wrists in her face.

Rachel sighed and reached into her pocket pulling out...nothing. _Dammit! _"I lost it." She mumbled. If looks could kill she'd be six feet under right now she was sure.

"Ya what?" He growled.

She had no time to answer; a solitary walker had snuck up on them. She had no time to think and just as the decaying used-to-be soccer mom opened her mouth, ready to take a bite out of Merle's back she shoved him hard to the side. Unfortunately she forgot she was connected to him and she went flying in front of the dead woman in his place. _Strange_, she thought. Her life wasn't flashing before her eyes. _Wasn't that what was supposed to happen?_

"Duck!" A man shouted.

Once again she didn't think just acted. She ducked as an odd sound clicked in the air with a slight twang and then-thunk! The walker was on her. _Fuck ducking!_ Rachel pressed her lips together, using everything she had not to scram as she wrestled the thing off of her. A loud sigh and grunt sounded by her ear as Merle stood dragging her with him, the walker sliding to the ground.

"Took ya long 'nough Darylina. Ya waitin' till it chewed on my ass 'r what?" Merle snapped in almost a tender way if it was possible.

Ray stared stupidly as a rough but somehow undeniably sexy man scowled at them, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. "Next time mebbe." He muttered.

Merle guffawed at the man and then kicked the dead walker hard in the side. "Ahh baby brother, ya know ya'd miss me." He turned back to her his smile dropping. "C'mon ya useless lump; le's see if they cin git ya off'a me."

The man with the crossbow raised his eyebrows at seeing the handcuffs. "The fuck?" He asked.

Rachel cut Merle off before he could answer. "We got a little too kinky." She deadpanned. She couldn't be sure but she swore that she saw his lips twitch in a grin.

Merle looked slyly at her. "Darlin', we git kinky I'll be gettin' tha' big mouth a yer's a gag. Shut ya up fer awhile."

She flushed, scowling. "Yeah, and I'll be getting you a decent sized strap on cause we both know what you're working with isn't going to do the job." She muttered. No doubt about it, the newcomer had definitely smirked.

"Mebbe ya jus' too loose. Fuckin' every stranger ya meet cin do tha' ya know."

"You're a real funny man Merle, real funny." She said back dryly.

"S'all part a my charm, sugartits."

"Ya two done? Or ya jus' wanna stand here waitin' fer more walkers." The man interrupted. Although his voice sounded angry she could see the amusement behind his eyes.

"Oh, we've been done." Rachel said brightly leaning to the man in a conspiring tone. "Merle seems to get done pretty quick- I've heard that can be a medical problem..." She trailed off smiling and held her free hand out. "I'm Rachel, and you are?"

He looked at her hand for a moment before shaking it gingerly like he was afraid it would bite. "Daryl." He grunted and then turned and walked off, motioning them along.

"Ya sure got jokes fer someone who keeps almos' dyin'." Merle said lowly as they trailed after Daryl.

Ray shrugged. "Just another day right?"

He narrowed his eyes at her keeping his voice low. "An' bein' jumped in alleyways? Tha' jus' another day?"

Oops, she didn't know he heard that. She stopped and looked up at him. "Are you trying to ask me something Merle?"

He narrowed his eyes and it was easy to tell he was uncomfortable. "Them men rape ya?" He bit out.

Ray smiled at him widely. "That almost sounds like you're worried Merle, but I promise; I've never been anyone's victim." She turned and tugged on the cuffs attempting to catch up to Daryl. Unfortunately Daryl had stopped to wait for them and she ran straight into his chest. Also unfortunately her momentum dragging Merle forward had him running into her back, effectively smooshing her between the two, all three trying desperately to keep their balance.

"It's like a Dixon sandwich." She mumbled trying to extricate herself from the two. She was pleased to note that neither brother had a comeback for her and both had turned bright red.

"Damn girl." T-dogs voice broke into the mess they had gotten themselves into. "Merle alone not cutting it for you?" He said with amusement.

"Shut up." All three said in unison, although Merle and Daryl said it as more of a "Shad'dup." And Merle added on an unneeded "Ya damn key droppin' nigger."

Daryl rolled his eyes and Rachel slapped Merle upside the head. "Stop talking like that." She snapped.

"Sugar, I wouldn' go 'round hittin' me when ya can't run." Merle threatened.

She fake yawned making a show of patting her hand over her mouth. "What, you're going to kick my ass some more?"

"Mebbe." He snapped back trying unsuccessfully to keep his grin at bay. He shook his head as if he could shake the smile off his face. "Nah, can't go beatin' on ya. I ain't gonna carry yer ass nowhere darlin'." He chuckled.

"Come on!" T barked urgently from up ahead. "Rick and Glenn are gonna meet us back at the van! Lets get the fuck outta here!"

The trip back to the cube van was mostly uneventful aside from Daryl taking out a few more walkers with his crossbow. And holy hell if that wasn't hot. As if he could sense her stare he turned his head to glare at her.

Merle chuckled. "Got a better chance a gettin' in my pants darlin'. Don't think Darylina knows what ta do wit a woman. Ain't tha' right boy!" He laughed up to Daryl who scowled in return.

"Hmmmm. If that's true then it's just to bad for all us." At Merle's confused look she continued. "Too bad for you because you don't have a chance at getting in my pants, too bad for Daryl because he does but doesn't know what he's doing, and too bad for me all the way around because I still don't get sex. Make more sense now?" She asked sweetly.

Her only response was a glower from Merle and an odd glare/blush from Daryl. As soon as they reached the spot where the van was supposed to be Rick ran up to Daryl, speaking in low tones.

"Fuck!" Daryl shouted drawing all eyes to him. "Fuckin' low sum'bitches!"

"Now, I ain't complainin' officer friendly, but, ahh..., ain't there supposed ta be a ride?" Merle asked sarcastically.

"Was gone when we got back." Glenn supplied helpfully. "Kinda worried you took it for a second there."

"You kidding me? Someone just stole our van?" T-dog snapped angrily.

Just as it seemed all the testosterone was going to meet and cause a massive explosion, Rachel spoke. "So this is the plan? To stand here pointing out the obvious and bitch like little girls?" She shook her head. "Come on you pansies, lets get stepping."

Each of the men looked at each other embarrassed; that kind of was what they had been doing, wasn't it? Rick cleared his throat. "Rachel's right. No good crying over it now, lets just hurry on back to camp." And with that they were off.


	6. Chapter 6

She was bored, she was exhausted, she was hungry and thirsty. And on top of all of that? She was fucking bored! Ricks voice brought her back to reality.

"So... Either of you want to tell me how you ended up cuffed together?" He asked trying not to grin.

"Not unless ya tell me why tha hell ya put tha fuckin' tools in tha van afore ya came lookin' fer us." Merle snapped; the loss of the bolt cutters _had_ hit him pretty hard.

Rachel ignored them both and concentrated on trying to skip while stuck to Merle. It was quite a challenge and for some reason the voice in her head was singing 'zippity do dah'.

"God dammit, woman!" Merle barked out as his arm was jerked around for the thousandth time on the walk back to the quarry. "Knock tha' shit off! Ya gonna yank my arm off!"

"Don't you worry, I don't plan on yanking anything on you off Merle baby." She looked pointedly at his crotch.

"Keep tha' mouth runnin' I'm bound ta fuck ya quiet."

She ignored his comment deciding to make one of her own as she looked down at his feet. "You know, I always heard that the size of a mans feet directly corresponds to the size of his dick."

All of the men looked at her in shock for voicing that thought, before subtly trying to look at their own feet. Merle, Daryl, and T had the largest feet and both Daryl and T tried to keep the grins off their faces. Merle had no such qualms and he took the bait, just as she had hoped.

"Well now sugar, looks like 'M king a tha castle." He drawled smugly.

"Well, obviously that theory's blown to shit." She smiled up at his confused expression. "Unless its doubled in the past week there's no way your kiddie size is as big as your foot." She heard sniggers from the other men as Merle's face turned a molted red.

"I'ma-" he started to snarl at her but she interrupted him.

"Can I have a piggyback ride?" She asked innocently. She was just trying to piss him off now. To her shock he threw his head back and laughed.

"Sugartits, I ain't never gonna be bored wit cha around."

Rachel scowled at the man, irritated that she wasn't annoying him. "Glad to help." She muttered kicking at the dirt and earning a chuckle out of him.

The rest of the walk was fairly quiet, well mostly. Merle didn't seem to be capable of keeping his mouth shut, but everyone seemed perfectly capable of ignoring him...mostly. A few snide comments were thrown around here and there and it seemed like Merle was trying to start a fight but everyone was desperate for calm. As the sky blackened Rachel caught herself daydreaming. What was this camp like? How many people were there? Was she even welcome to stay with them? Did she want to? Why hadn't she asked these questions before? She was giving herself a headache. A sharp jerk on her wrist brought her back to the present.

"Already told ya I ain't carryin' yer ass, so wake up." Merle drawled.

She could see the sly grin on his face as if he was just waiting for her to smart off. Before she got the chance to however, screams seemed to burst from up ahead, surrounding them. They took off at a mad run towards the commotion, Ray being practically dragged behind Merle; she was no where near as fast as him. She stood in shock as she looked around at the people running frantically, the people being devoured before her very eyes. Daryl tossed Merle a gun before taking a look at her and then the cuffs. He sighed, almost melodramatically, before stalking up to Glenn and taking his baseball bat, throwing it to her.

"Make ya'self useful." He grunted taking aim with his crossbow and letting it loose.

Ray swung badly with her free left arm as a walker approached them jaws snapping. Since she was a righty she only managed to make it stumble a bit before it was back. Suddenly it's head seemed to explode and she felt the bits of it fly into her face and tangle in her hair. She turned quickly to Merle meeting his disgusted glower.

"Bitch, ya can't help out none?" He snapped.

"Look out!" She cried ignoring him and pointing.

He turned smirking at the walker rapidly approaching them and raised the gun again. An empty hollow click sounded and he looked at it disgruntled. "Mother fucker gave me a half loaded gun." He mumbled to himself.

She watched as he reached into the back of his pants pulling out the Browning Matt had given him in the city. Her mind went blank and it was like she was having an out of body experience. He took aim at the walker finger on the trigger and she jumped on him, tearing the gun out of his hand and throwing it as far as she could.

"BITCH!" He roared garnering the attention of everyone in the vicinity.

It was quite lucky he did because at that moment the walker lunged, and the jerked back suddenly, a large bullet wound in its head. Glenn nodded at them as he passed and Ray thanked god for the asian man. Merle snarled and grabbed the bat out of her hand, attempting to ignore her. And then she saw something that made her heart sink even further. A giant lumbering oaf of a man obviously bitten, was scrambling away from two walkers with what was presumably his blood dripping from their jaws and down their fronts. As the man scurried across the ground his hand came in contact with Merle's gun.

"NOO!" She shouted too late, earning attention again as even Merle looked over with bat raised, apparently ready to beat whatever was after her.

When he saw nothing he followed her terrified gaze over to Ed, picking his gun out of the dirt. "Aww, fuck." He muttered to himself remembering what she had said about the gun being tampered with.

The man raised the gun, grinning in a sick sort of way, and pulled the trigger. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to happen but it hadn't been this. The gun literally seemed to explode, pieces of the barrel peeling back like a banana, and bits of metal and gun flinging around. The man who had pulled the trigger went down quickly; metal lodged deep in his scull, the two walkers went down as well. Rachel didn't know when it happened or why but for some reason she found herself stepping in front of Merle. As far as they were from him, she still felt some shrapnel like pieces in her left arm and then in her side and back through the large arm holes in Merles leather vest as she tried to turn into his body.

. . .

Merle looked down at the woman with her face in his chest with something akin to shock. _The hell just happened? _He felt her body begin to shake and instinctively stepped back; cryin' women were nothin' but trouble and he had no desire to be 'round one. A'course he was still handcuffed to her so he couldn't get too far. He was a little more shocked when he saw her face- broad was fuckin' laughin'.

"Somethin' funny sugar?" He asked lowly, not sure if she'd cracked or something.

"I killed a live man by proxy. To help your sorry ass. I didn't even know him or a thing about him. And you're a dick wad. He could have been nice for all I know!" She giggled in hysterics.

"Merle." An elderly man with white hair walked up to them cautiously, staring at Rachel who continued to ramble on to herself.

"The fuck ya want old man?" He snapped, holding his arm out away from his body trying to put distance between him and what he assumed was a god damn certifiable chick.

"I think she's in shock. She needs to be calmed down."

"Aight. G'on an' calm her crazy ass down then."

The older man shook his head. "In case you hadn't noticed son, you're stuck to her." He looked pointedly at the arm Merle was holding away from him. "It's gonna have to be you. Bunch of unknown people crowding her could make it worse anyhow." He walked off with a look of sympathy a the babbling girl, shaking his head.

Well, ol' man was right; he was cuffed to her scrawny ass. Time ta fix that. "Cunt!" He snapped his fingers in front of her blank face, receiving no reaction. "C'mon now!" He slapped her face lightly. "Snap outta this shit. S'fuckin creepy as hell."

. . .

Ray shook her head slowly some of the glaze from her eyes fading away. "Never thought I'd be called creepy." She attempted to smile before she looked down at her hands.

There was blood. Lots of blood, coating her fingers and hands, along with other undistinguishable goop and she rubbed them frantically on her jeans. It didn't matter that just yesterday she had sliced apart not one, but two walkers, and had decorated herself in one. Right now all she could see was that man picking up the gun. She knew he'd been bitten, but to be the one who handed him his way to the end made her feel sick.

. . .

Merle watched as she rubbed her hands on her jeans, attempting to clean them. Her jeans were full of guts as well, some from earlier and some from just now, so all she accomplished was rubbing the matter around while unconsciously pulling at his arm. He frowned when he felt her hands begin to shake.

"Hey!" He snarled grabbing her wrists to still them, ignoring her wince. "Knock that shit off. I ain't afraid ta slap ya again."

Ray shook her head looking up at him frantically. "I need to get clean! I need this off of me! I need you to get off of me and I need to get fucking clean!" Great she was starting to hyperventilate.

. . .

Merle looked at her with disdain for a moment before begrudgingly acknowledging that she had pretty much saved his ass. He supposed he could help her now. 'Sides mebbe once she calmed her ass down she could unlock tha cuffs. "Darylina!" He shouted over the sobbing pathetic campers, grinning madly as Shane gave him a nasty glare.

Daryl stalked out from behind the disgruntled cluster fuck at the RV. "The hell is it Merle?" He grunted before sliding his eyes to the woman. "She bit?"

"Nah, ol' man reckons she's in shock or some shit." Merle grinned. "She wants ta git cleaned up. Them assholes like ya better, go find us some soap an' clothes an' crap. Meet me down at tha' quarry." Merle began walking off with her in tow. "Ask them lawmen 'bout a fuckin' key! Anythin' ta git these damn cuffs off!" He hollered back.

. . .

Daryl stood still, glaring at his brothers retreating form. Merle knew just as well as he knew he'd do what Merle asked. Not 'cause he was a pussy or nuthin'; just 'cause they was brothers, if it'd been the other way around Merle'd do it for him to. A'course Merle'd throw a bigger fit than him...he was just like that.

. . .

Ray stripped her jeans uncaring of Merle watching her strip smugly, or his hand purposely touching her leg as it was dragged along with hers. He had already stripped down to his boxers anyway. She winced, catching some of the metal still caught in her skin, as she attempted to remove Merle's leather vest, growling when it slid down her arm only to meet up and dangle from the cuffs, noticing for the first time that Merle's wife beater and over shirt were dangling there as well. She didn't fucking care. If it was the last god damn thing she did she was going to get clean. She waded out slowly into the water dragging Merle behind her.

"Dammit! Don't cha know ya ain't supposed ta git leather wet!" He grumbled next to her.

"Yes, that's very high on my list of priorities right now." She said dryly, feeling a little better as some of the blood flowed off of her.

"Merle!" Daryl's voice echoed down the embankment and Rachel quickly tried to duck down in the water.

These handcuffs, while amusing at times, were really starting to get on her nerves she mussed as she unintentionally took Merle down with her. They both flopped into the water, Merle landing on top of her in a tangle of limbs. She laughed out loud as he surfaced and to her shock she heard Daryl laughing just as loud as her from shore. Merle spluttered and coughed, turning red and glaring at her.

"Darlin', we gonna have some issues." He bit out grabbing her arm. This time he didn't miss her gasp of pain, or the feel of something sharp digging into his hand. "The hell?"

"It's like you're trying to push them in deeper!" She snapped yanking her arm away.

"The gun?" He grunted not meeting her eyes. She didn't respond, just threw him a look that plainly read "duh". He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment before hauling her out of the water by the cuffs. Heading towards Daryl he snapped out. "Towel." And was rewarded with one to the face.

She snorted through her shivering. "Nice shot." To her utter shock Daryl quickly looked her up and down with a grin, nodding, and lobbing another towel her way.

"Ya fuckin' stupid?" Merle snapped taking the towel away and laying it out on the floor. Somehow he had managed to get his pants back on but both of his shirts and her stolen vest were still dangling on the handcuff chain. "Lay down." He snapped pointing with his free hand at the towel. When she didn't respond he dropped to his ass dragging her with him.

"Gotta git them outta ya. They're liable ta git infected, dumbass." He bit out not looking at her.

"Gee, its almost like you care." Ray said rolling her eyes, but obediently lay down on her side/stomach, Merle's knee under her hips to keep her propped up enough to get at her arm.

"C'mon now boy, I'ma hold tha flashlight an' yer gonna dig tha crap outta her." Merle motioned to Daryl to throw him the flashlight.

As Merle shined the flashlight on her the brothers exchanged looks; it wasn't horrible but it sure as hell wasn't pretty. There were only maybe fifteen chunks in all but Merle had done a bang up job digging a few in her arm deeper.

"Ain't gonna feel good." Daryl warned her.

"No shit sher-AAHHH!" She yelped loudly.

"Fuckin' hold still ya pussy." Merle snapped.

"Yeah I'll get right on that." She whimpered as Daryl got three of the pieces quickly from her back.

It went quickly with Daryl and Merle's combined efforts to hold her still, both constantly lighting the flame of indignation and stubbornness whenever they insulted her. She had a feeling they were doing it on purpose to distract her, and damn if it wasn't working. The last bits were the deeper ones in her arm.

"That man...did he have a family?" She asked quietly, needing to know if only for her own piece of mind.

"Make it any worse or better either way?" Daryl asked, not really caring; the man was dead-end of story.

"Guess not..."

Merle had had enough. "Yeah, he had a fuckin' family, an' sure as shit they're happy his ass is gone." He went on as her face morphed into disbelief. "Man beat his woman every chance he got, pro'lly scared tha tar outta his little girl to. Not one person here's gonna miss him so quit ya whinin'."

Daryl looked over at Merle in disbelief; it wasn't like him to ease people worries. He was more the type that got off on rubbin' salt inta the open wound. "He was bit anyhow." He grunted not sharing his thoughts as he stood. "Done. Might wanna git those wrapped though."

"Done bein' a crybaby?" Merle asked.

She groaned as she stood grabbing her jeans and shimmying back into them. "I'm not a crybaby." She said petulantly. "Next time you stay on the floor and we'll dig a knife into you."

"Quit ya whinin'." He grinned, somewhat relived that she wasn't acting crazy anymore. "C'mon. Reckon a hell of a lotta people wanna make sure we ain't defiling or killin' ya."

"Should I dare to dream." She muttered sarcastically. "Is it ok that I'm shocked that a word as large as defiling came out of your brothers mouth?" She looked back at Daryl grinning. "More so that he used it in a sentence correctly?" She was getting surprised by Daryl, whom she assumed would just be a carbon copy of Merle, but he shook his head and grinned.

"Ain't a dirty word he don't know."

"Ya two done clucking round like two fuckin' hens?" Merle grumbled yanking on the handcuffs sending her scrambling to keep up. "What'd tha pigs say about tha keys?" He looked back at Daryl.

Daryl's face darkened. "Shane." He spat the word like a curse. "Would feel safer at night knowin' ya got ya some dead weight. Says he done lost the keys." He gave he a sidelong glance. "Also says we don't know ya, mebbe ya can't be trusted."

This was not news that she wanted to hear; however before she let Merle make a scene she did have one trick to try. "Think you could find me a bobby pin?" She looked at Daryl hopefully while Merle broke out into a grin.

"Somethin' that goes in a lady's hair right?" He looked away, scratching the back of his head and blushing.

"Yep." She smiled widely. Daryl shrugged his shoulders and started walking off, before she could follow him Merle jerked her the other way. "We need to communicate better or one of us is going to end up missing an arm." She griped rubbing the sore shoulder.

It turned out no one really wanted to meet her or cared about her. They were all involved in their own issues, and everyone but Glenn, Rick, T-dog, and surprisingly an old man named Dale, gave her a fairly wide berth. To top it off apparently in light of the apocalypse no one had brought any bobby pins. She lay in the tent on her side in Merle's cot listening to him and Daryl sleep. They snored- loudly. She couldn't get comfortable with the cuffs either. How Merle just drifted off was a mystery to her. Rachel threw her head back again, trying to get comfortable. She knew it was useless...there was something she had had to do for awhile and she was dreading it.

"Merle." She whispered. Nothing. "Merle!" Accompanied by a slight poke to the side. Still nothing. "Hey!" She tried louder. This time he moved...flopping half on top of her with one leg draping across hers and his free hand coming to rest on her breast. She punched him lightly in the stomach.

"Oomph! God dammit!" He snarled trying to sit up, squeezing her breast unintentionally.

She might be able to work up some indignation about being felt up later but right now there are more pressing things to worry about. "Asshole!" She whispered harshly.

As Merle woke up fully large grin spread across his face. "Yeah darlin'?" He mumbled not even bothering to glance up at her, instead focusing on his hand on her tit, kneading the flesh. Her next words, however, had his eyes jerking up towards hers and a laugh escaping his lips.

"I have to pee."

**A/N~ TangerineDream- Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it!**

**And a quick shout out to all of the people who have taken the time to read, review, favorite, and/or follow! It really does mean a lot to me and it keeps me motivated!**

**~hateofme**


	7. Chapter 7

She heard Daryl's light sniggers under Merle's boisterous laugh. "Yes, yes, this is absolutely hilarious." She snapped slightly embarrassed. "But I really do have to go."

Merle sighed melodramatically, tugging her to her feet as he got to his. "Ya sure know how ta kill tha mood princess." He grumbled as he stepped into his boots.

"In order to kill 'the mood' I'm pretty sure it needs to be there. And don't call me princess."

"Don't cha worry darlin', it was there." He said grinning largely, glancing down at her boobs and then his crotch, before raising his eyes back to hers.

Ray blushed hotly as Merle dragged her out to the woods. "Aight, g'on an' do yer thing." He said still grinning at her.

_Ok, I must have misheard that._ "Ummm, excuse me?"

Merle kept his large grin in place. "Ya deaf? G'on an' pee woman. I wanna git back ta bed before we move on."

"Yeah, no. I can't pee with you right here."

His eyebrows raised even further in obvious amusement. "And jus' how do ya think yer gonna manage separatin' us? Cause I ain't plannin' on choppin' off an arm for yer ass."

Ok, just how did she think this was going to work? She was feeling frantic , plus, the pressure of her bladder about to burst was really hampering her ability to think. She put her hands on her hips attempting to ignore Merle's handcuffed hand squeezing her ass as she did. "Ok." She stated. "I'm going behind the bush and you're staying over here...and for gods sake plug your ears."

"Gotta shy bladder?" He snorted. "An' I cin only plug one ear sugar." He squeezed her ass again as if to emphasize the close proximity of their hands because of the cuffs.

This was getting worse and worse. "Fine." She snapped losing her patience. "Talk then."

"Bout what?"

"I don't care." She bit out. "Just fucking talk... And don't peek."

Merle looked at her crinkling his eyebrows. "I ain't no pervert." Rachel snorted and arched a brow. "Not like tha' anyhow." He mumbled sheepishly.

"Just remember I'm handcuffed to you. I'll kick you in the balls every hour that we have left if you do." She muttered crouching behind the bush, and quickly looking to see if he was peeking. It was awkward getting her pants and underwear down one-handed with the other held high over the bush, eventually in her struggle Merle grabbed onto her chained hand with his and held her steady, releasing her when she got them down. True to his word he didn't look once.

"Ya really woulda chose Ed over me?" He mumbled abruptly.

"Huh?"

"Tha fat fuck tha shot my gun."

"Merle, when I said talk I didn't mean converse."

"Whatever." He mumbled lowly.

Popping a squat barefoot was...awkward. As soon as she finished she stood pulling her pants and underwear up quickly, and turning toward Merle...who was peeing.

"Good god! Say something first Merle!" Ray yelped turning abruptly and shielding her eyes as if she could somehow un-see him taking a piss. "For the love of christ! We have an entire conversation about do's and don'ts before I go and you just whip shit out! What the hell!?" She could feel him 'shaking it out' as he responded.

"Darlin', ya were bout thirty seconds out on tha' roof when I met 'cha from me bein' balls deep in ya; ya think I'ma be shy 'bout takin' a fuckin' piss in front a ya?"

"Are you done?" She snapped still embarrassed, refusing to turn around till she was sure he was all 'put away'.

"All done sugar. Ya act like ya weren' all up on my junk a week ago." He muttered grinning as she turned and caught sight of his still undone pants, albeit with his 'equipment' put away.

"If that's supposed to encourage me to jump your bones you've got another thing coming." She said dryly trying not to grin.

"Hey now, y'all's lucky I was able ta git everythin' undone one handed."

"Sometimes I think you're pure evil." Ray muttered letting her arm to limp as he did up his pants and belt, doing her best not to brush up against him.

"Apparently s'all part of my charm." He grinned back at her as they trekked back to the tent.

"Yes, you are a real charmer Merle Dixon." She smiled impishly, squealing as he plopped on the cot dragging her down with him.

"Ready fer some fun?" He leered.

"Sure." She said brightly as his eyebrows rose in surprise. "And as soon as these cuffs are off Daryl and I plan on having some!" Ray winked over at Daryl who was trying to ignore them. From the way he blushed she was pretty sure he wasn't managing.

Merle's face dropped almost comically as grabbed the sleeping bag and tugged it over them. "Shut ya smart mouth."

Ray giggled as she settled down to sleep, once again facing Merle. She hoped she hadn't really hurt his feelings or anything...he was just fun to tease. Still...she worried her bottom lip as she glanced up, squinting to make out his face in the darkness. His eyebrows were creased in a scowl, mouth turned down in a frown, but his eyes were shut and his breathing seemed deep and steady. Well, if he was asleep then she felt ok apologizing; no awkwardness after and all that. The situation with Ed must have been bothering him, and for a man like Merle, who didn't seem prone to uncertainty, to ask if she would choose Ed over him made her feel bad.

"Merle?" She whispered lightly. Nothing, not even a twitch. "I wouldn't have chosen Ed." She said softly, giving his cheek a quick peck, she turned her head away, forced her eyes closed and drifted off. It was unfortunate then, that she missed the slight twitch of Merle's lips and the creases of his frown disappear.

. . .

"Wake up!" Daryl's voice had her jerking straight up in the cot, staring blearily at his ever present scowl peeking into the tent. "Bodies ta clean an' shit ta pack." He snapped before withdrawing his head and stalking off.

"What bug crawled up his ass?" Rachel mumbled rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Merle just pinned her with a glare. "Ok apparently your ass to."

"C'mon." Merle snarled not answering her observation. "Le's go be useless out there."

"Maybe you're useless. _I'm_ not." She griped as he tugged her out of the tent. "I have to pee again."

He turned to look back at her and she could see exasperation warring with amusement in his features. "Tiniest fuckin' bladder." He muttered, lips twitching, as he tugged her off to the woods.

They found another bush and, much like the night before, finished their business, this time made much easier now that they knew what to expect of each other. "Thanks." She grumbled determinedly not looking at him as he peed.

"Gotta ask darlin', what tha hell ya gonna do when ya gotta take a shit?"

Ray looked up at him in complete shock; that was something she hadn't thought about. "Die." She stated resolutely.

The corners of his eyes began to crinkle, and he let out a large laugh. "Me to sugar, me to. Ruin tha image I have a ya if we have ta cross that bridge."

"Seriously Merle, death first."

He snorted. "Aight, le's git back ta camp. Help tha' whiny brother a mine."

. . .

Camp was a solemn scene with dead bodies everywhere. Blood and walkers were splattered across a fire pit, spreading to the outskirts of the camp, to the edge of the woods surrounding the area. She hadn't really taken stock of the devastation that had happened the night before; she could barely remember it, but now, looking around, the damage was staggering. The worst was Andrea. True, she didn't like her that much, but seeing her bent over the body of a dead woman that obviously meant a lot to her, went a long way towards bridging the dislike she felt for her.

"How are you feeling?" T-dog walked up quietly, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Ray shook her head. "You...this...I...I'm sorry." She finally managed. "Is there anything we can do?"

T looked dubiously at the handcuffs. "Ahhh, might wanna go ask Rick."

"It's ok T, _I'm_ not useless." She answered back rolling her eyes.

They approached Rick who was huddled around the hood of a car with some others, including Glenn and Morales, all looking down at a map. She made a light "ahem" noise trying to get Ricks attention but before she could see if it worked Merle opened his mouth.

"Officer Friendly." He said loudly, earning him a glare from the other officer.

Rick looked at them sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Rachel. Ummm, lets get some introductions out of the way, alright?"

Before she had a chance to respond Rick began a slightly macabre round of who was who, and she was slowly introduced to the remaining members of the group she found herself in. The older man who had introduced himself last night named Dale gave her a tired, friendly smile; although it came out as more of a grimace. A pretty if thin and waifish looking woman, with long chestnut hair was Lori, Ricks wife, and a young boy, cute and slightly pathetic, was Carl, his son. Somehow or another Rick had a streak of luck miles long, and he had managed to wake from a coma, deserted, and find his wife and son. _What the hell? _Shane was the other officer currently giving her and the Dixon's the stink eye, and she decided she didn't like his attitude. Morales stepped up and introduced his wife and children, giving her a strained smile. A pretty black woman named Jacqui and a sweaty sickly man named Jim were next. The last to be introduced was a small, beaten down woman whose name was Carol and her daughter, Sophia.

The small girl stepped up to her, tugging on her leather vest to get her attention. "Shane says you killed my daddy." She said matter of factly in a soft voice.

"Sophia!" Carol cried.

Ray stood open mouthed, not knowing what to say. She was even more shocked when Merle scoffed and abruptly crouched down in front of the girl, dragging her along. She couldn't hear what he was saying to her but if the look on her face was anything to go by it might almost be nice. Carol was standing frozen in the background, as was most everyone else. Shane was the only one who seemed to think Merle was going to strangle the child or something equally horrible, but Rick held him back, curious to see what was going on.

"G'on now." Merle's sharp grunt snapped her focus away from the groups reactions and back to the pair next to her.

Sophia gave her a shy smile and whispered in her ear so softly she actually had trouble hearing her. "Thank you."

Ray looked at the child dumbfounded, did she really just hear that? Before she could respond the little girl walked with a happy little bounce all the way back to her mother, grabbing her hand and tugging her off.

"What'd you say to her." Shane spat out angrily at Merle.

"Go fuck ya'self." Was the only response that he got, and shockingly it didn't go over well.

"Stop!" Came the shout from Rick before things had a hands to get out of hand. "Right now that doesn't matter." He said sternly at Shane. "We've got to get the hell outta here, any suggestions y'all have will be considered. Right now I'm looking at taking my family to the CDC, any thoughts?" He looked around at everyone.

Ray froze. _The CDC? _"If its still operational, CDC's the best bet." She said looking directly at Rick, who smiled a bit and nodded gratefully.

"Fuck that!" Shane snapped angrily. "We need to go to Benning!"

"Benning'll have more weapons." Merle piped up looking disgruntled at agreeing with Shane.

The conversation was interrupted by a woman shouting. "Jim's bit!"

Ray left the commotion, tugging Merle along toward Andrea. As she approached she slowed her steps. "I...you're strong." She sighed. "I know we didn't get off on the right foot, but no one should have to do what you're doing alone. I'm not going to pester you or follow like a puppy dog, but if you need something-even if its just someone to shout at, come find me." She sighed again heading for the tent, Merle following with a perplexed look on his face.

. . .

In the end the CDC was determined to be their best bet and the families packed up. She was slightly surprised to find that Morales and his family wouldn't be coming along, something about family elsewhere. Made sense, if she even knew where to begin looking or how to get there she'd be out looking for her own sister. She stood outside the drivers door to Daryl's truck, waiting for them to get on the road.

"Here." A flurry of blonde hair shoved something into her hands. "You're going to get us killed you keep going the way you are." Andrea snapped stalking off to the RV.

Ray looked down and smiled when she saw a pair of sneakers in her arms. She looked up at the disbelief in Merle's face. "I'm apparently likable despite everyone's best effort not to." She said wryly.

"Seems ta' be a problem. A'course I only put up wit yer ass cause I know ya put out."

"Hardy har har. What do you think you're doing?" Ray looked at him like he was crazy as he attempted to jump in the drivers seat.

"Drivin'."

She smirked. "Sooo, let me just make sure I'm understanding this. _You_ plan on _driving_?"

"Bitch, I already said tha', ya got a prob'lem?" He snapped getting irritated.

"Just wondering if you're going to be comfortable is all." She shrugged.

Merle lost his temper and flung the door open, hopping inside. "Pretty fuckin' comfy." He snapped knowing he was missing something.

Ray smirked at him again and climbed into the truck, straddling his lap. She almost laughed when she saw his eyes widen and his adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard. Except it wasn't really that funny. In fact, with his free hand gripping her ass and his eyes going molten, she was getting turned on. _Once again, another case of not thinking things through._ She cleared her throat and finished swinging over his lap, planting herself in the seat next to him.

"Still comfy?"

Merle scowled at her, taking a good long look at his left arm, crossing over in front of his body to meet her right arm looking much the same as his. It looked as if they were in the middle of an incredibly awkward hug. "God dammit!" He yelled pulling out of the truck, sending her stumbling out after him.

"Give some warning next time you throw a fit, yeah?" She snapped.

"Don't matter anyhow." Came Daryl's voice along with the thunks all of their belongings made landing in the back of the truck. "S'my truck, I drive."

. . .

The drive was relatively quiet until the convoy stopped to drop Jim off. The three stayed in the truck, not having anything to say to a man they didn't know. She wished she did know him; anything to get out from in-between Daryl and Merle. Not that she didn't like it on some level-she just was uncomfortable being this attracted to two different men at the same time, especially since the two men were brothers.

"So, how'd you two get cuffed together again?" Daryl smirked over at them.

"Girls got a habit a pissin' people off. Killed some guys brother." Merle said with a slight grin.

"Wow. _Girl_ is right here, and I killed his _walker_ brother."

"Wit a stapler." Daryl and Merle both looked at each other and snorted.

"I was at work." She said prissily. "Excuse me for not bringing a crossbow or a gun everywhere I go. Besides, to my knowledge he's the only one that got in. They went on lockdown and doors were only opened if you planned to leave for good."

"Lock down?" Daryl said curiously. "The hell you work?"

"She was some receptionist." Merle interrupted giving another snort.

"Ok I can answer for myself."

"Stop bein' a baby. Ya-" Merle was interrupted by the radio.

"We're here!" Came Shane's crackling voice.

Making their way to the doors was fairly easy. Rick pounding on the door, apparently having a mental break, was not.

"Fuck this shit." Merle snarled tugging her arm. "We gotta git tha hell outta here!"

Rachel stood her ground, staring at the camera, she could have sworn...there! It moved!

"It moved! The camera!" Rick shouted.

As Rick tried to convince people that he wasn't insane (which he was doing a bang up job of looking like), Ray narrowed her eyes. _If anyone was left... _She marched up to the door, pushed Rick out of the way, and began pounding on the door.

"I know you're in there Jenner!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "Open the damn door!"

The group turned and looked at her in shock as the doors slid open, blinding light encompassing them.

"Rachel?" A mans voice rang out shaking.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N~ I'm soo sorry this took soo long! It took a while to get some motivation up! I hope you all enjoy!**

****

**~hateofme**

"What the fuck!" Shane shouted, attempting to grab her arm.

Merle yanked her away and glared at the both of them. "Think we'd all like ta know."

"Rachel?" Jenner called again. "That you?"

"Yep." Ray sighed ruefully, shrugging her shoulders. "Sorry."

Jenner shook his head, stepping toward them, holding his rifle steady on them. "Anyone infected?"

"No. Not anyone that's here anyway." Rick answered still in a daze.

Jenner eyed them all. "What do you want?"

Rick answered with "A chance." While Rachel snorted.

At Jenner's raised brows at her she explained sarcastically. "We were hoping for some tea and cake, maybe a game of pool, before we head on out to be walker chow."

To everyone's surprise Jenner lowered his gun, smiling. "Always did have a smart mouth. Glad to see the apocalypse didn't change that." Jenner strode forward quickly wrapping her in a hug.

Rachel giggled. "I'd hug you better, but I'm a little stuck." She lifted hers and Merle's arms.

Jenner looked at first the handcuffs, then the two of them frowning. "Time enough later. You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission." He turned addressing the whole group.

Rick nodded. "Fair enough, we can do that. I'm Rick."

Jenner nodded, releasing Ray. "Dr. Edwin Jenner. You got stuff you bring it in now! Once this door closes it stays that way."

As the group scurried into the elevator silence blanketed over them. Daryl eyed Jenner. "Doctors normally go around packing heat like that?"

"There were plenty around...I familiarized myself."

Ray stood next to Merle and Jenner thinking. _Merle was quiet-that couldn't be good. And where was everyone? Where was Candace?_

"The fuck ya two know each other?" Merle spat.

Jenner looked at her surprised. "She works here; well, used to."

"Hey! I'm not sticking around when my coworker tries to eat me." She said indignantly.

"Soo," Jenner asked slowly. "What happened to your shirt?"

The doors slid open and, sensing the impending argument, Jenner did his best to interrupt and distract everyone. It worked fairly well until after blood was drawn. Edwin informed them that he was all that was left of the CDC which had Rachel feeling faint while Andrea actually started to. On the way to the cafeteria Merle stopped moving. It immediately felt like she was handcuffed to a god damn redwood- once that man decided he wasn't moving a freakin bulldozer wouldn't get him to budge. Of course he wasn't considerate or anything and didn't let her know he was stopping, so when she kept walking her whole arm felt like it was about to rip off.

"Jesus!" She yelped as her body jerked back. "Please, don't mind me, it's not like I was planning on using that arm again, ever." She snapped.

"Ya have some explainin' ta do." Merle snarled at her.

Ok, it wasn't like she hadn't seen this coming, but still, it felt like an I Love Lucy Episode- 'Lucy! You got some splain'in to do!' "What's up?" She snorted trying not to let on that she had been 'watching' re-runs in her head for the past thirty seconds.

His eyes narrowed dangerously at her flippant response. This wasn't going to be pretty.

. . .

How right she had been. The only good thing about the night as far as she was concerned was Jenner miraculously having a handcuff key. If she were honest with herself even that left her feeling a little bereft for some reason...probably the same reason she quietly asked for the cuffs back- plus the key of course. Good thing she was currently practicing and excelling in denial. Of course the large bottle of liquor she was nursing might be helping. Merle was angry, hell, the whole group was angry at her, Candace was dead or gone; she hadn't wanted to ask Edwin, and the hope of the CDC seemed to be a bust. Ray sighed audibly, throwing back another swallow.

"Sure ya should be drinkin' tha' much?"

She turned, only slightly wobbly, and was surprised to see a look of concern on Daryl's face, even if he looked put out by said concern. "Of course. This bottle's not going to regret itself you know." She slid down the wall, trying to give her wobbly legs a break.

His lips twitched in the barest of grins, before he slumped down the wall to sit next to her. "They ain't all mad ya' know."

"Please. Shane looked like he wanted to eat my firstborn child in revenge and your brother acts like I've killed his."

"Killed his wha'?" Daryl's eyebrows furrowed.

"Firstborn child. If you're going to bring up painful subjects please do keep up Daryl." She said dryly, sloshing the amber liquid around the bottle. "Or better yet, join me in my attempt at forgetting all of this shit through alcohol poisoning." Ray flashed him what she hoped was a winning smile and was practically ecstatic when he grinned back and reached for the bottle.

. . .

The next morning Rachel woke up with her head throbbing, a slight feeling of suffocation, and the realization that, although fully clothed, she was partially pinned under Daryl's body. Although that wasn't the most awkward (and slightly weird) thing by far. No, that would be the fact that she was in Daryl and Merle's room with Merle sitting in a chair giving her something between a glare and a look of absolute and total confusion. Of course she could be misreading that due to the nice shiner and fat lip he now sported.

Ray groaned and shoved at Daryl. "You're crushing me."

Daryl smirked, which she thought was odd. She also thought his matching black eye, split lip, and busted nose were odd, but hey, what did she know. "Ya said ya were cold. Just helpin' out."

_Huh-whaaaat?_ "Regardless, you and your brother happen to be built like brick shit houses and will probably end up breaking my bones eventually. Ground rules say no crushing me please." She avoided looking at either man as she hopped to her feet and practically flew out of the room. _What the fuck happened last night?_

. . .

~The Previous Night~

To say he was pissed was a god damn understatement. Hell no, he was fuckin' livid. Not once had the bitch let on that she was from the CDC, not once had she let on bout anythin' about herself neither. And what the fuck was wrong wit him? He just accepted tha' shit? Never questioned it? "Dammit!" Merle snarled to himself, resisting the urge to punch a fucking wall. Didn't know why he was gettin' so worked up over a piece of pussy anyway. Come down ta it he knew he was jus' pissed that he let all this information slip on by him. He was no ones fuckin' fool, so ta be caught actin' like one was downright humiliatin'. He paused as he heard laughter coming from down the hallway and he recognized, not only the sound of Daryl's 'drunk voice', but Rachel's voice to. And from the sound of it they were both shitfaced.

"Swear to god!" Rachel yelped indignantly.

"Bullshit." Daryl's voice retorted. "I heard ya jus' about jumped Merle out there in Atlanta, ya expect me to believe that shit now?"

"Seriously! I pinkie promise!"

He could hear Daryl snort. "You for real? A pinkie promise?" He abruptly changed the subject. "So, there any reason ya didn' tell no one ya worked here?"

A loud sigh sounded before Rachel spoke up. "Not really. It didn't even cross my mind that it would be important." Daryl scoffed in disbelief and she rushed on. "Honestly! I was a fucking receptionist, not medical personnel or some genius! I've never even been allowed down this low before, this was Edwin and Candace's area."

"Who?"

"Jenner and his wife."

"Wife?"

"I don't know." Ray said sadly. "If she's not here then she's dead or gone...and I'm not sure if I want to know which."

It was silent for a minute or two before he heard Daryl speak. "C'mon." He snapped.

Merle could hear movement coming and quickly ducked into a nearby doorway. He sure as hell wasn't going to get caught bein' a nosey needy bitch. As soon as they passed he made a beeline for his room ready to drink southern comfort till he passed out. He came up short right outside his and Daryl's room looking at the slightly open door, something resembling dread, irritation, and anger roiling around his gut. The feelings intensified as he heard Ray's unmistakeable squeal of laughter ring out.

"Stop it! Please I'm gonna pee my pants Daryl!" She choked out in gasping laughter.

The squealing stopped and Merle could just make out Daryl on one of the beds straddling Rachel, obviously having just been tickling her. What the fuck? Since when did a fuckin' Dixon _tickle_? Even in his mind the word tickle was spat like a vile curse. Bitch had only been around a couple of days an' was turnin' him an' his baby brother inta world class pussies. Fuck this shit! He made to slam the door in when Daryl's next words caught his ears.

"So, ya tryin' ta tell me not only have ya only fucked one man ever, but it was only one time?" He asked skeptically.

"Swear Daryl." Rachel said in slight exasperation. "It was a horrible pathetic experience, and not at all what it was cracked up to be."

"Dare ya ta try again darlin'?" Daryl rumbled so lowly Merle had a hard time hearing him.

What the fuck? The whole fuckin' world had turned upside down! Dead people were up an' eatin' live people, he'd gotten stiffed multiple times on the same lay (from a woman who, if she were to be believed, was practically a fuckin' virgin), and to top it off he was left creeping aroun' listenin' behind doors like a fuckin' psycho, only to discover that his pussy bitch of a brother actually had game? A'course Merle knew Daryl learned it all from him, but still! Now that motherfucker chose to move in on some of the only available snatch left (that he had already mentally claimed), an' bring ou' some fuckin' smooth lines when he let everyone think he barely knew how ta talk-let alone be smooth!

Sloppy kissing noises sounded from in the room and had Merle seeing red. Fuckin' teasing, stupid, troublesome, whore!

"Fuck!" Rachel's voice snapped him back to the present. It wasn't some sexy soundin' noise neither, more like pissed.

"Wha'?" Daryl's voice came out slurred and confused.

"I'm sorry Daryl. I-I just can't do this."

"Is it cause ya only been wit one guy?"

"No! It's... God this is-"

Even though he was pissed at Daryl for moving in on Ray, he hated the nervousness and insecurity he could hear in his brothers voice. He'd rip tha' boy a new one later; righ' now he was gunna put tha' schemin' little bitch in her place. He openEd the door loudly.

"Don't y'all go coverin' on my account." He drawled lazily as the two jumped off the bed guiltily. "She ain't gunna fuck neither of us brother!" He clapped him on the shoulder chuckling, obviously mocking. "She jus' wants ta play games, don'cha sugar?"

"Excuse me-" Rachel started indignantly.

"I'm talkin' now bitch, keep yer trap shut."

"Fuck you!" She barked out reviving a derisive laugh out of him.

"Sweet'eart, we all know ya wont. Whats more ya a fuckin' liar. Prob'ly got tha nastiest cooze-"

"God you're an asshole!" Ray cried out angrily, as she stood and attempted to push her way out of the room. Of course she was more than a little drunk and ended up stumbling right into Daryl.

"I seem to be having trouble walking." She mussed looking at the floor, not willing to meet Daryl's angry glare.

"The fuck you thinkin'? We some fuckin' joke?" Daryl snarled down at her. "Got news fer ya, princess. I don't give a flyin' fuck about ya', so git the fuck outta here." He shoved her backwards and she stumbled through the door, wincing as it slammed shut behind her.

Daryl rounded on Merle, his anger intensifying as he saw the self satisfied smirk stretching across his features. "The fuck was that for, huh?" He shouted chucking a chair across the room. At Merle's chuckles he lunged for the man and the brawl was on.

~Meanwhile~

T-dog sighed underneath the steamy spray of water-this was fucking amazing. Finally clean. Not that anyone could ever really tell he snorted to himself. He supposed it was a perk of his darker skin. Still, he stank something awful, and the feeling of clean was a forgotten luxury that he was determined to reacquaint himself with. He froze in shock as the doors to the locker room showers flew open and slammed behind a very very drunk Rachel muttering to herself.

"God damn assholes! Don't even wait for me to say anything, nooooo. Lets just get fucked and jump to conclusions and be complete jerks!" She walked straight passed his jaw-dropped, stock still, not to mention naked form, and turned on a shower still muttering. "I mean really! Stupid Merle just trying to start problems."

T finally shook himself, clearing his throat loudly.

"Shit!" She jumped turning around. When she noticed him she flushed a bright red, clapping her hands over her eyes. The sudden movement, along with the loss of sight, had her wobbling increasing to a severe point, and suddenly she fell flat on her butt, drunk, fully clothed (aside from a still missing shirt), in the middle of the spray of water.

"Aren't things supposed to be getting better?" Rachel groaned, flopping onto her back.

T hurriedly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. "You ok?"

She made a fountain of water from her mouth, spitting it up into the air before facing him. "Do I look ok?"

He chuckled. "Not from here. Your boys give you trouble?"

He received a dirty look. "They are _not_ my boys."

"So that a yes?"

Giving up Rachel proceeded to tell him a lot more than what he was sure she would have if she were sober. He kind of figured that she wasn't a doctor- come on, girl wondered around a walker infested Atlanta for over a week barefoot. Doctors would have had more sense than that. He could also see why she never mentioned working here; when it came down to it she couldn't really have given them any more info on the place, being a receptionist and all. He really could have done without her sex life (or lack thereof) and her new 'attractions' though. He shook himself, trying to pay more attention to what she was saying.

"I'm not trying to tease anyone though! It sounds like bull though, doesn't it?" She asked pathetically.

"Let me make sure I got this. You're attracted to Merle?" He waited for her to nod her head before continuing. "And you're attracted to Daryl."

She looked over at him with miserable eyes. "Yeah."

"And you don't want to do anything with one of 'em till you figure out who you like more?"

"Sounds about right."

"Don't sound so bad to me. You told 'em this?"

She looked irritated. "I tried. They threw me out."

He was uncomfortable with this entire conversation but figured he should just give his honest opinion. "You need to tell them then. Ain't goin to get any easier than now girl."

Ray chewed on her lip before facing him hesitantly. "Think I can have them both?"

T jumped a bit. "Shit girl!" He looked incredulously at the small woman blushing next to him before shaking his head, amused despite himself. "Not sure most women could handle one Dixon..." He grinned at her. "It's the end of the world though... that's all up to you and them I'd say."

A large smile broke out, lighting her face up. "Thanks T." She grinned even larger at his discomfort as she gave his towel clad form a wet hug and a peck on the cheek, rushing out of the room. He stared at the door, fighting off the small twinge of jealousy; damn girl was what pornos were made of.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N~ Have to say-wow! I was actually really nervous about introducing a triad type relationship with Merle, Daryl, and Rachel-I'm thrilled at all the encouraging responses! Thank you all soo much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following! I just love hearing from everyone and getting your thoughts and opinions! -melkS- Don't worry! I promise I'm getting to it! (I just really hate writing the CDC! It's soo damn hard for me!) Thanks again to everyone!**

**~hateofme**

...

Ok, so to do a quick recap- Rachel and Daryl got trashed, Merle got pissed, then Merle got Daryl got pissed. Rachel wakes up in Merle and Daryl's room and rushes out wondering what the hell happened last night? A few flashbacks later (that she may or may not remember) and now we pick up at her running out of Merle and Daryl's room :).

...

The door slammed behind her but she refused to look back. _What the fuck was going on!?_ Her thoughts were cut short as she ran into a fairly solid wall of Rick Grimes. "Oomph!"

He laughed lightly, steadying her with his hand on her arm. "Hold on there Ray! I promise breakfast will still be there if you walk."

He was right of course, but judging by the looks she was getting from the rest of the group as they sat down to eat, she may have needed to look in a mirror before she came out. Hind sight is always twenty-twenty after all. Pretty much the entire breakfast was awkward. Merle and Daryl seemed to have switched personalities, with Merle still giving her that odd glare/confusion combo, and Daryl smirking at her and looking at her like she was fucking candy. T-dog was giving her an odd look she couldn't for the life of her decipher and Shane was glaring at her more than usual. The others were busy looking back and forth between her and whoever was giving her looks, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

She glared right back at Shane almost laughing as his eyes narrowed. Then, a slight foggy memory hit her; Shane, last night, running into him, he was lost and angry, had blood on his neck... Trying to hold onto the memory was like holding water in cupped hands; the harder she tried to keep it, the more slipped out till she was left with nothing but the knowledge that at some point last night she had run into him. After an awkward breakfast T cornered her as she tried to discreetly leave the room.

"So, you not talk to them?"

Ray turned abruptly. Oh that's right, she had walked in on T last night, hadn't she? She smacked her head into her palm and groaned; she had a big fucking mouth when she was wasted. "I don't know. Lets forget that conversation ever happened."

It was his turn to smack his head, although somehow he made it look much more dignified. "Can't exactly un-hear all that girl. 'Sides, I don't really want to have that conversation again the next time you get drunk. What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't remember."

He looked at her with what she was guessing was pity as he placed his large hands on her shoulders and spun her around. "Go and talk to them." He commanded, giving her a firm yet gentle shove.

Ray took a deep breath, attempting to reassure herself that he was right. This really did need to be discussed; if nothing else to make it less awkward between her and the Dixon's. With a slight smile and a grateful nod at T she was off. Except that talk never happened. She felt as if she were hit on the head with a dumbbell with all the information she was being thrown. From Candace really being dead and Edwin having to put her down, to the fact that everyone was infected, to Edwin's mental collapse and subsequent attempt to kill everyone. She stood still as chaos rained around her, Edwin finally opening the doors the entire group scrambling to get their belongings and leave. Well, almost the entire group. As everyone ran off Dale, Andrea, Jacqui, and Edwin stayed behind with Rachel.

"C'mon! We gotta git tha fuck outta here!" Merle hollered at her from the doorway. Daryl stood next to him eyeing her hesitantly. When she showed no response Merle rounded on Daryl. "The fuck ya waitin' for?" He snapped. The brothers ran over to her still form, each grabbing an arm, and ran.

It wasn't till she was upstairs that she registered the world around her again. They were stuck. The glass was bulletproof and there was little hope of escaping when Carol piped up and started digging through her purse.

"I found something when I washed your clothes back at the quarry..." She mumbled still rummaging.

Shane's snide voice snapped over her. "I don't think a nail file is gonna help us here."

"Pretty sure I saw the glass crack from that asshole remark." Ray scoffed at the man. "Why don't you try a few more, see if that gets us out of here?"

Shane glared at her and opened his mouth but Carol cut over the bickering and handed, of all things a mother fucking grenade to Rick. "That'll work." He grinned widely.

The group ducked behind whatever they could find and braced for the impending explosion. It was loud and it was felt reverberating through their bodies but there was no time to stop-the next explosion was going to be much bigger after all. Daryl grabbed her arm and hauled her towards the truck trailing after Merle, who had barely spared them a glance as he took off. Then suddenly she was shoved roughly to the ground, Daryl's body pinning her. In the next instant she felt as if her eardrums had ruptured, and she could literally feel the heat of the fire and smell the singeing hair and burnt flesh. What a shitty start to the day.

...

Four days later and things were not settled, not even a little bit. Not with Sophia going missing, not with Edwin and his goodie-bag of shitty news and subsequent suicide, not with the insane news that Carl had been shot, and most definitely not with Rachel and the two Dixon's. She pondered the Sophia situation for a bit, still feeling horrible that she hadn't gotten there in time.

**~Flashback~**

Rachel huddled under the car clutching a shaking Sophia to her chest. The herd was moving out and away, slowly but surely. Exhaling through her nose softly she allowed herself to relax slightly. That was her mistake. As she relaxed Sophia seemed to think it meant 'hop on out' and did just that.

"Sophia!" Ray scrambled after the girl but didn't make it far at all as a clammy hand attached itself to her ankle. She screamed for a bare second before panic overcame her, closing her throat. And then, just as sudden as it had started its grip went slack. She pulled herself rapidly out from under the car, not paying any mind to the scrapes she was incurring. A quick look revealed Merle with his boot planted in the walkers now smooshed head, but no Sophia.

"Fuck!" She swore, and giving a quick nod of thanks to Merle she took off after Ricks retreating figure.

**~End Flashback~**

She had chased after Rick but had come up with nothing, in fact Daryl had had to come back out to find her since she didn't know the way back. She couldn't help but feel responsible, because, well, she was.

Darkness had fallen on what was left of the rag-tag group and their makeshift camp, the tenseness between the Dixon's and Rachel was palpable and not at all helped by Carols sobs that echoed out into the night. Rachel attempted to stealthily sneak out of the RV, careful not to disturb T-dog or Andrea. Turns out she didn't have to worry about Andrea; she was already outside.

The woman jumped as Rachel approached, spinning with her hand on her chest. "Christ! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry." Ray shrugged halfheartedly playing with the hem on a bright blue shirt of Amy's that Andrea had given her. "Just...kind of...depressing in there." Andrea nodded, understanding, but saying nothing.

"The fuck ya doin' out here blondie?" Merle's voice snapped through the crisp night air.

"Fuck you."

Merle made a show of looking Andrea up and down. "Last cunt tha' made tha' offer weren't nothin' but trouble. Doubt ya'd be worth it neither."

Ray opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Andrea who threw her hands up in the air angrily. "You three need to work your crap out! There are other people with real god damn issues who are tired of your shit!" She snapped stomping back to the RV and, disregarding any semblance of quiet, slammed the door shut.

Rachel stared after the woman with her mouth agape. _It wasn't that obvious was it? _She turned toward Merle and scowled as she watched his retreating back. Sighing melodramatically she wandered towards Daryl's truck and away from moody Merle. Since Daryl's and Merle's abrupt personality switch with Merle always scowling at her with a plethora of emotions running across his face before he would check them blank, and Daryl's somewhat boyish leering and smirking at her every chance she got, she figured Daryl was probably the one to talk to; at least he talked. As soon as she reached the truck she smirked lightly-All that could be seen of Daryl was his feet. She kicked one and snorted when a thunk and various swears sounded underneath the truck.

"The fuck?" Daryl snapped, squinting up at her as he scooted out.

Her smile dropped. "Can I talk to you?"

He stood wiping his hands on his pants, looking around the camp, his gaze lighting on Merle's form near the edge of the woods and the RV before looking back down at her. "Yeah. Gonna go out an' look for Sophia..." He slung his crossbow over his shoulder and gave a quick jerk of his head for her to follow him.

As much as she didn't feel like being ordered around like a puppy dog, she really did need to talk to them. After all, if the entire group had picked up on their oh-so-subtle fighting... Once again she snorted to herself earning an odd look from Daryl. She stopped abruptly when she realized they were heading straight for Merle. _Ohhhh so he meant that all three of them were going...yeah, no thanks. _As if he sensed that she was no longer following him he turned, noting her narrowed eyes Merle. As she watched him roll his eyes and stalk back to her she mentally readied herself a damn good argument on why there was not a chance in hell she was going with Merle unless he apologized. Therefore she was quite taken aback to find herself thrown over Daryl's shoulder like a sack of potatoes with not even one word coming out of the stoic hunters mouth.

"What the hell!?" He ignored her and her insults and walked straight passed Merle and his surprised scowl. As soon as they had tromped a decent ways into the woods Daryl roughly deposited her flat on her butt on the forest floor.

Ray scrambled up quickly, glaring at both men. "What the fuck was that?!"

"'M tired of your guys' drama. Two 'r worse'n a couple a bitches on tha rag." He grumbled, folding his arms and leaning back against a tree.

"It's not my fault! I get shitfaced! And then with you- then he's an ass-doesn't let me get a word in! Don't even remember! Had to see T-dog in the shower! And then somehow- ending back up in your room- and to top it off HE'S STILL MAD!" Rachel ended her choppy dialogue on a shout, pointing at Merle.

"Ya fuckin' still stupid! Wanna' keep on shoutin'? Bring a whole 'nother herd down ON OUR ASSES?" Merle shouted as well, red faced in anger.

"Ya both shoutin'!" Daryl hissed, effectively stoping them. He whirled on Merle. "An' I told ya she didn't 'member that night! Ya both better pull your heads outta' ya asses 'afore ya git us all killed!"

Merle blew Daryl off effectively, although he did stop yelling. "Don' need no cunt causin' prob'lems between me an' my baby brother." He stopped suddenly registering some of what she had said. "Ya what wit tha' nigger in tha shower?" His eyes had narrowed even more if that was possible and his face was even redder.

It was her turn to blush. "Don't call him that! And I didn't know he was in there!" She turned stabbing a finger in Daryl's chest. "And you don't get to pretend you're blameless here! In fact- why are you even here? Didn't you say you don't give a fuck about me!"

Daryl's face reddened in slight shame before going stony as Merle chuckled and instantly perked up at more confrontation with the little woman as she rounded on him.

"And you! You couldn't have even given me five minutes! Five whole fucking-"

"An' what would ya have done wit them five minutes, ya damn hussy? Pit us against each other? Make some sad eyes at tha one ya want? Come up wit a story 'bout how ya never wanted one a us, an' it was always tha' other? Ya-"

"You're still not listening! I don't want to fuck around with either of you-"

Merle turned, slightly crestfallen, but masking it quickly in triumph. "See! Didn' I tell ya brother? She don't-"

"I WANT BOTH OF YOU!" Ray practically screamed over Merle. "I like you both! I don't know what to do, ok!"

Daryl grinned madly sending a look full of 'I told you so' straight at Merle. Merle, for his part, didn't seem to handle her confession well. His jaw went slack and his body seemed to slump in shock as he turned slowly and disbelievingly to face her. "Ya..." His voice came out off pitch and almost prepubescent, well, if prepubescent boys had deep gravelly baritone voices... Still it came off almost squeaky. He cleared his throat and shook himself slightly. "Ya what?"

Rachel swore the heat that was coming off of her face could have warmed up the RV twice over. "I like you both. I didn't want to do anything with either of you until I figured out who liked more because I didn't want to just fuck with one of your heads. And..." She paused, kicking at the floor and once again playing with the hem of her shirt. "I can't figure it out ok? I'm not- I mean like I said, I've only been with one guy... And, I mean, I don't really know how fuck buddies or one nighters work, but couldn't... I mean, I assume since they're called one nighters that you move on to a different person the next night... So couldn't we call it however many nighters and I just- I mean- I...I..."

"Fer fucks sake, spit it out." Daryl grumbled from his tree.

She spared him a slight glare before returning her eyes to the ground struggling to push out the next words. "Can't we just share? I mean, not you two doing anything with each other- unless you want to..." She was admittedly worried about that but her worry was short lived at the simultaneous looks of horror and disgust that crossed their faces.

Daryl managed to spit out a- "Fuck. No." While Merle rushed out with a- "Hell fuckin' no."

She nodded and rushed on, determined to get this out. "Like I said, that part is up to you guys. I'm- I'm just saying...to maybe- if you're both ok with it...just..."

"Y'all have taken tha past ten minutes fer two sentences; fuckin' talk woman." Snapped Merle gruffly.

"Just share me." Rachel blurted, looking straight at the floor.

_Is it actually possible to die of embarrassment? _Her face felt like it was literally on fire and she was sure it was beet red. As the silence continued, so did the downward plummet of her stomach. This was it, where they laughed or said you're crazy or disgusting. She started to edge away slowly, hoping maybe to make it back to camp without them to spare her even more humiliation. So caught up in berating herself she didn't notice Merle's hand snap out until it had wrapped firmly around her wrist. She looked up at him in shock before noting his cheeky grin as he yanked her into his chest.

"Jus' where d'ya think yer goin'?"

Ray stared up at him, mouth still ajar, her thoughts a jumbled, confused, mess. Was he saying what she thought (who was she kidding) what she hoped he was saying? "Uhhh..."

Merle's smirk grew wider as he held her against his body tilting her chin and making her meet his eyes. "Let's make sure ol' Merles got this right; ya sayin' yer game fer me an' Daryl gettin' our wood wet wit'cha. No strings, no bull, none a tha' playin' us against each other."

Ok, the feel of him against her was making her slightly inarticulate. "I, uhhh..." She shook her head, trying to clear the lust induced fog. "Mostly... I mean if you two go off screwing other girls its only fair if you tell me and I get the same opportunity."

Merle's smirk was so wide she thought his face might crack in two and even Daryl gave a choked cough. _What in the world?_ "Sugar, ya wanna screw some bitches I'd be more'n happy ta help ya find some, on tha condition I get ta participate." He winked at her as she groaned.

"That's _not_ what I meant and you know it." She mumbled, missing the dark looks flash across both mens faces.

"Nah, we won't fuck no one else 'till this is over an' neither will you." Daryl spoke waspishly.

Ray tried hard for the rest of the night to keep the grin off of her face; they were looking for a little girl after all, but it was hard work. Part of her was shaking, trying to convince her that she was just a wimpy girl trying to play a grown woman's game, and the other part was jumping up and down clapping its hands. Soon enough though, the gravity of the situation was hitting them. They were out looking for Sophia, and who knew what they were going to find. By the time they made it back to the RV dawn was breaking and they were exhausted. They left food and a sign for Sophia and quickly loaded up into their respective vehicles.

"C'mon Darylina!" Merle held the passenger door ajar and looked down at Daryl's protruding feet from underneath the truck. "They're rollin' out, don' wanna git this ones panties inna bunch." He turned to smirk at her as she rolled her eyes.

Daryl swore, standing. "Y'all best hope that holds." He snapped angrily, stomping around the front of the truck and hoping in on her other side.

"Do you guys think we'll find her? Alive?" She asked lowly, guilt still weighing down on her.

"Course." Daryl said not leaving room for argument.

"I just... I should have known she was going to run like that." Ray smacked her palm on the dash.

"Though' you was smart." Snorted Daryl in unison with Merle who said "Shaddup, stupid."

Ignoring Merle she spun to Daryl "And what's that supposed to mean." Ray hissed at him.

"Exactly what he said darlin'." Snorted Merle

"I asked him! Not you-so shut up!"

"Exactly what I said." Supplied Daryl which had him and Merle both sniggering.

"Oh my god is this how you two deal with emotions? Find someone to annoy the crap out of and snicker behind your hands like a bunch of first graders?" Ray shook her head in exasperation.

"Not quite," Merle chuckled as though he were waiting to deliver a punch line, "We don' snicker behind our hands."

Rachel rolled her eyes and hit her head on the dashboard "Oh my god." She moaned. These stupid jerks were getting in the way of her pity party.

"Buck up sweet thing." Merle chortled as he clapped her on the back, laughing even harder at Daryl's pointed glare at his hand on her back.

"Sometimes I feel like you two are trying to kill every brain cell I have." She mumbled.

"Nah, then we couldn't have tha' sweet wild sex ya promised us." Merle leered at her and laughed some more. His face turned somber suddenly. "Don'cha worry, darlin. Kids tough, kinda stupid ta jus' take off, but tough." He cleared his throat and ignored the look he was getting from Daryl, instead choosing to stare out the window.

The rest of the ride was fairly quiet, in fact the only noises made were the surprised squeaks she made when both Daryl and Merle put a hand on each of her thighs. Well, that was the only noise until they tried to pull up to the farm house.

"Aw, hell nah!" Daryl snarled removing his hand from her leg.

"The fuck is wrong wit'chu now." Merle snapped, irritated at the whole peaceful feel up of Ray being interrupted.

"Ain't nothin' wrong with me." He bit back struggling with the gears and pedals. "Hold on, we in for a ride... And a hell of a stop." He muttered the last bit, giving up on the gear shifter- clutch had gone out.

"Brake motherfucker!" Shouted Rachel, her hands clenched so tightly that the knuckles were white.

Daryl spared the smallest of moments to glare at her before turning to pump the brakes some more and blare the horn. It was almost amusing to watch everyone scatter, the group and strangers alike, and see the front door opening and slamming to reveal more people. Everyone watched, transfixed as Daryl's truck slammed into the side of Carols old Jeep Cherokee, somehow flipping it onto its side, and coming to an abrupt halt. The three looked out at the Jeep wincing at the damage and trying to catch their breath. A sudden groan of old, rusted, beaten up metal caught their attention and they watched, Rachel in shame and mortification, the Dixon's with unabashed grins, as the jeep made one last cringe inducing creak, and crashed onto its roof.

The men let out two identical whoops and Ray felt like her brain snapped. "What the fuck just happened!" She shouted.

Merle and Daryl looked at one another, smirking and nodding before Daryl addressed her. "Told ya to hope it held-it didn't."

"What didn't!?"

"Brake lines were leakin'. Y'all rushed me outta there so fast might not have got 'em all."

Thankful that she had worn a seatbelt she reached down to unbuckle it, stopping with her hand in mid air when she finally realized just what the two had been smirking about. Both men had, in what started as a rather nice gesture, put their arms in front of her to brace her for the crash. However, Daryl's right hand was smashed directly over her right breast and Merles left was crossed over Daryl's arm and firmly planted on her left breast.

"You know," She started dryly. "I'm pretty sure that my tits are like my own personal airbags... And airbags don't need protection, they are the protection."

"Ya got it all wrong sweetheart," Merle said almost innocently. "These things are too nice not ta protect. Might need ta walk aroun' like this wit how accident prone ya are. Jus' ta be on tha safe side."

"Course, prob'bly some other areas need protectin' to..." Daryl trailed off smirking.

The banter was cut off by an older mans indignant voice. "What happened here?!"


	10. Questions, questions)

**A/N- Ok, first- This is not a chapter! I'm sorry! Ok, next- I am having the damnedest time writing this next chapter and getting the creativeness flowing! Keeping that in mind I'd like to ask all of you amazing readers out there what YOU want! Any ideas on where to go what to do next? Anything that you would like to see happen? Any specific characters you would like to see brought into play? Let me know what YOU want and any ideas you have and I will do my best to incorporate them! Thank you for your time! **

**~hateofme**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N~ Wow, first off I cant apologize enough for taking soo damn long! It's taken me forever to get up any sort of motivation to write at all and honestly, without all of your guys' support, reviews, and encouragement I might not have updated at all. So thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart-you all rock! I know this chapter is slightly boring with a side of lame but hopefully you all like it just the same. (Totally did not mean to rhyme but at the same time I'm proud ;)). Thank you to everyone and hopefully I never take this long again!**

**~hateofme**

As Rachel exited the now dilapidated truck, she took careful note of the man who had shouted at them. He looked sweet and kindly-somewhat a serene grandfatherly type; exactly like the kind of person that tended to hate her, well, at least dislike her immensely.

The man eyed them with obvious distaste. "My names Hershel, and this is my farm. And I don't take kindly to reckless behavior and destruction on my property."

Hearing snickers on either side of her Rachel sharply elbowed both brothers, stifling a snicker herself when they both slightly bowed over having the air knocked from their lungs. An impatient "A-hem" snapped her attention back to Hershel, who wore a severe look of disappointment. Admittedly disappointment from a man she had just met was unnerving.

"I'm sorry sir." She said raising her eyes to meet his and shuffling her feet. "The brake lines were leaking."

As his eyebrows raised as if wondering whether or not to believe her, his gaze settled on Merle and Daryl's almost identical defiant smirking scowls. Of course she knew that was an oxymoron but that's exactly what they were doing and there really was no other way to describe it; kind of like the brothers themselves. Almost everything about them, in fact, was an oxymoron. Honestly, nice jerks? Rough and smooth? Optimistic pessimists? Wait, maybe that last one was just her... Daryl's snapping fingers in front of her nose yanked her from her musings.

"Huh?" She stammered trying to focus her eyes. _Way to play that smooth_, she thought sarcastically as she realized Hershel was gone.

Merle snorted. "Weren't sure if ya got damaged," he tapped the side of her head for emphasis, smirking. "In tha' l'il fender bender there darlin'. Might wanna clean that drool offa ya chin..." He trailed off.

Both men howled with laughter as she quickly brought her hands up to her face now bright red face, trying to wipe the imaginary drool. "Oh my, aren't we a comic genius." Ray said in the driest tone she could muster, attempting to cover at least a little embarrassment. "In fact, that was sooo funny I think I forgot how to put out." She grinned evilly as the brothers instantly looked a cross between regretful and a child that was told they couldn't have their favorite ice cream cone. In other words- pitiful, angry, and just wishing they hadn't opened their mouths.

"He's the one who said it. Dunno why y'all have t' go lumpin' me in with his smart ass anyhow." Daryl piped up grumbling, giving Merle a hard glare.

Rachel tapped her chin in mock thought. "You still laughed..." She trailed off in a thoughtful voice. "But, I suppose you're right." She grinned widely at Daryl as she skipped up to him. He looked unnerved if anything, but she didn't let that stop her. As soon as they were toe to toe she fisted the front of his shirt, yanking him down to her level and, giving him a wink, she slammed her lips onto his. Daryl stood stock still for the barest of moments as she caught him off guard, then, just as he relaxed and shifted to put his arms around her Ray broke the kiss. She laughed at his dumbstruck expression, patting him on the cheek, and flounced away, only looking back to wink at both of the men who stared sullenly back at her.

. . .

"Yo! Ray!" T-dogs booming voice called across the field to her. He grinned tiredly as she whirled to face him. "Found something for you."

She raised an eyebrow in question. "Flavored condoms?" She grinned as he winced comically.

"Ah, no." He said shaking his head. "Damn girl, I always heard men think about sex all the time but I think you've got every guy here beat."

"Just 'cause I'm thinking about what I'm missing T." Ray grinned. "Sooo, if you don't have any amazing sex aids for me..."

Damn, this girl was just trying to drive him crazy! "A tent. Unless of course you plan on still sleeping tent Dixon..." T-dog smiled as he watched her face light up.

. . .

Merle sat by the fire watching T-dog talk to Rachel with narrowed eyes. He hated that fuckin' porch monkey talking to her like he was her best friend. Ray threw her head back and laughed loudly at something the black man said and Merle's eyes narrowed even further as he watched her touch his arm lightly. _The fuck?_

"I may have been out of the dating scene for quite awhile." An old mans voice sounded. "But I'm pretty sure glaring at the woman is not going to endear you to her son."

Merle spun, muttering at Dale as he crouched by the newly made fire pit. "Ain't her I'm glarin' at." He snapped, angry for even saying that he added. "Don't know what yer talkin' 'bout anyways old man."

Dale raised his hands in mock surrender. "Glaring at her friends likely won't help you either." Merle opened his mouth ready to lash out but Dale had already stood, patting him absentmindedly on the shoulder. "Just food for thought." He said with a light grin, ignoring Merle wrenching his arm away, and with that he walked off.

"Whole damn camps fuckin' upside down." He grumbled to himself, wondering momentarily if he should listen to the old man. Nah, fuck that! This weren't no dating lovey-dovey bullshit! This was about getting laid. If there was one thing he knew about women it was that they didn't need to be treated like a fuckin' queen ta fuck a man. He nodded abruptly to himself. That was that.

. . .

Evening seemed to approach quickly as the campers settled in. Ray had set her tent up over by T and Glenn figuring she was avoiding the temptation that was the Dixon's for now. Not that she necessarily wanted to avoid it...just that maybe it was the right thing for now. After all she barely knew them and they really hadn't discussed how this was supposed to work and- oh who was she kidding? She was nervous! All of her incredible experiences with sex, the remarkable amount of men she'd slept with, had her confidence level shooting through the roof... You know, all one of them.

"Arrrggghhh!" She groaned smacking her head into her palm. This may just be hopeless. She flopped over in the lumpy sleeping bag and forced herself to drift off to sleep, convinced that the stress of the day was going to get better.

. . .

Ray woke up what she felt was incredibly early the next morning. However she was proven wrong as every single person was already up and puttering around the camp, organizing, setting up, and settling in. She watched from the sidelines for a moment uncomfortably, she really needed to get to know more people besides the Dixon badasses and T-dog. Rick seemed a good bet, he had been rather nice to her even if he was standoffish now. Who could blame him though? His son had been shot. A quick scan of the camp revealed everyone but Rick and she sighed. If she was going to try and make friends with the man she would need to go inside and brave Hershel and his family. As she hesitantly approached the patio she watched, amused, as the young blond named Beth scrambled off of the porch and inside. Apparently she was scary. Ray trudged up the steps but before she could even raise her hand to knock Hershel appeared at the door.

He eyed her for a second that seemed to stretch into hours before nodding at her and opening the door. "Come in."

Ray stood with her mouth agape but at his chuckle she snapped it shut and cautiously proceeded inside. "Thank you sir." She fidgeted. "I was hoping to speak to Rick?"

Hershel pointed to a staircase. "Upstairs second door on the right."

She thanked him and hurried away, knocking lightly at the door. "Rick? It's Rachel..."

The creak of a chair sounded followed by light footfall and the door opening. "What can I do for you?" He asked solicitously.

"You look like crap." She blurted blushing instantly. "Sorry."

To her shock he chuckled. "I'm sure I do."

"Go on and get cleaned up, you're stinking up the whole house." She grinned.

Rick hesitated looking back at Carl who rolled his eyes. "But-"

Rachel put up a hand to stop him. "Go on, I'll stay here." He made a few more feeble protests that she blew off, finally resorting to pushing him out of the room. "Don't come back until, you're clean and you've eaten a decent meal."

"Thanks." Carl's voice sounded from the bed and she winced at how feeble it sounded.

"No problem kid." She assessed silently before smiling. "Bet it sucks to be stuck in here."

Carl nodded shyly. "Yeah, and everyone's treating me like a baby."

"Well, you did just get shot."

"Exactly!" He exclaimed. "I just got shot! If I'm tough enough to survive that then I shouldn't be treated like a baby!"

Ok, well that was pretty sound logic. Besides, he needed to be able to defend himself to-just look at the mess with Sophia. Maybe if she hadn't been babied and actually taught things she would have been found by now. Hell, she might have found her way back if she'd been taught the right things.

"I'll make you a deal, kid." Ray grinned as he scowled at the word kid. "I'll call you a kid whenever I feel like it but I won't treat you like a baby. You're right. You are pretty damn tough. I'll ask around and see if I can find some stuff for people to teach you, alright?"

The boys face lit up like a Christmas tree but he still asked cautiously. "And what's my part of the deal?"

Had to hand it to him-the kid was smart. "You don't want to be treated like a baby then don't act like one. No pouting, no wondering off, and if you're told to do something you had better damn with do it without arguing."

He pondered this for a minute. "Deal." He said with a grin, sticking out his hand.

. . .

That visit sealed the deal and true to her word Rachel visited Carl multiple times a day. In all honesty she couldn't really do much else. She was almost as bad off as Carl in a sense. She didn't know much about guns, didn't own a knife, know how to hunt, or even get around in the woods without getting lost. The days tended to tick by slowly and everyone seemed constantly busy. Even Merle and Daryl were always off searching for Sophia. In fact the only people to spare her time were Rick, Carl, and surprisingly Maggie.

She grinned remembering the day that she and Maggie had began to talk. Spending time in a chicken coop with an angry woman was no fun and she had kept quiet. Watching her smash an egg on an unsuspecting Glenn's head had been classic and she couldn't help but laugh. From then on Maggie would always go out of her way to talk to her, and she was grateful for it. Admittedly Ray had noticed the dirty looks she had been getting from around the camp; not just from Shane but Lori and Carol as well. She shrugged resolving to just let it roll off of her shoulders. After all, the world was a shit hole now...how much worse could it possibly get?

. . .

There was something of a jinx quality to that phrase she mussed for what seemed like the thousandth time. Behind her the moans and groans grew louder and she cursed herself-and almost everyone else back at camp- as her lungs burned and eyes watered. She could scarcely breathe but running from walkers could do that to you. Ray let her mind drift trying to pinpoint where things had gone soo wrong.

~Earlier that Afternoon~

"Not a chance kid." Ray said resolutely, smiling as Carl tried to convince her to ask Daryl if he would teach him how to shoot his bow.

"Please! At least it's not a gun!"

"Carl, I can barely lift that thing and even if you could its still the wrong size for you. Tell you what, I'll talk to your dad about it-maybe he has an idea what kind of weapon would suit you and what he'd be comfortable with."

"Can I speak with you?" Lori's cold voice snapped in the room, instantly shattering the easygoing atmosphere.

"Sure!" Rachel said brightly trying not to roll her eyes. "See you later Sheriff." She grinned ruffling the over large hat on his head. Once they were outside she faced Lori. "What can I do for you?"

"Stay away from my son." Lori bit out.

She raised her eyebrows at the woman. "You don't like me, I get it. But Carl does and he's bored out of his mind. Rick knows I visit him and he's fine with it so I don't see a problem."

"I'm his mother!" Lori snarled. "I have a problem with it and I'm telling you now; stay away from my son!" She finished, breathing heavily.

"No." Ray said simply before walking away, leaving the woman staring after her incredulously. As she reached her tent Merle's voice brought her to a stop.

"Next time ya fight I'm thinkin' there needs ta be a mud pit an' some punches." He drawled grinning.

"Nah, Daryl and I did that yesterday..." She smiled enjoying the look of shock and jealousy on his face. "I'm kidding! Geeze!" Ray laughed grabbing his arm and leading him towards the fire. "So what did you and Daryl find for dinner?"

Before Merle could answer Daryl looked up at them from by the fire. "Didn't _find_ nothin'. S'called huntin' woman." He snapped with a grin to let her know he wasn't really mad.

"Sorry, I didn't realize how sensitive you two were." She rolled her eyes with a smirk. "So what did you guys _hunt_?"

"Squirrel." Daryl grunted grinning widely at the look of horror on her face.

"Ummm... What?"

"C'mon sugartits, ya know what a squirrel is don'cha?" Merle leered with a smirk, obviously enjoying her discomfort.

Oh ha ha ha. Well, she could play along until they told her what they really hunted. "Of course. I used to eat squirrel all the time! Those grey ones are the best though-more tender."

Both Merle and Daryl looked at her with brows raised. "Aight," Daryl shrugged. "Think ya can gut this?" He asked offhandedly as he chucked a dead squirrel straight at her.

Pure reflex kicked in and Rachel caught it as the tiny furry body hit her square in the chest. Realizing what she held she promptly shrieked and threw it, hitting Daryl straight in his shocked face. "WHAT THE HELL?" She shouted at the men.

Merle's raucous laughter drowned out any response that he could have made. "What the hell ya screamin' at our dinner for sugar?" He guffawed, slapping his leg.

"I didn't think you were serious." She grumbled, attempting to wipe her hands on her jeans.

Daryl's lips were twitching as he tried to hide a grin of his own. "Take it that means ya ain't guttin' it."

"Damn straight I'm not."

"Ya gonna cook it fed us though, right?"

"If its not Kraft mac and cheese then you don't want me cooking it."

"God damn woman!" Merle grumbled halfheartedly, swinging an arm around her waist. "Ya don't hunt, gut, or cook. Ya lucky ya plan on puttin' out cause yer uses are runnin' thin."

Wow, that actually stung. Best not to make a big deal out of it though- if he knew how much it bothered her he'd probably just tease her more. "Ha ha. You're hilarious." She had more to say but was suddenly distracted as she watched Carol slide up to Daryl meekly, completely ignoring Merle and her. As Ray watched their little exchange her blood seemed to boil. It didn't matter that Carol was 'only' offering to cook. And even though it was obvious that Daryl was uncomfortable, when she lightly ran her hand down his arm Rachel started to see red.

. . .

Merle watched the old bat attempt to flirt with Daryl, amused. Boy barely knew how to handle women his age, much less some creepy fuckin' cougar. "Well, at least she knows how ta cook." He needled Ray as Carol walked away with the meat, smiling at Daryl over her shoulder. He frowned when she didn't respond, and turned toward her. "Shit!" He swore lurching out to grab Ray as she started to move toward Carol.

. . .

Rachel let out an "Oomph." As she was grabbed unceremoniously around her waist. "What the crap?" She snarled, as she was spun to face a frowning Merle.

He said nothing just grabbed her arm and hauled her off towards the edge of the clearing, obviously looking for some privacy. As soon as they were out of sight of the others he stopped and faced her still angry for some reason.

"What in tha hell was tha' shit." He snapped.

Ray shrugged nonchalantly, picking dirt from underneath her nails. "I was just going to humiliate her, that's all."

His mouth twitched and a grin threatened to break out but he stifled it quickly. "Thought the deal was no strings darlin'. Neither of us have even fucked ya yet an' ya gettin' all jealous an' shit. That ain't gonna work."

"I was not jealous." She ground out, ignoring Merle's snort. "We agreed other people were off limits."

"An' just how is that ol' cow suppose' ta know that?"

"Well, along with letting her know her advanced age, I was going to diplomatically tell her."

Merle raised a brow at that, they actually hadn't discussed telling anyone. It was more of an unspoken agreement not to. "An' ya think yer prepared ta do that, do ya?"

Rachel crossed her arms defiantly. "Yes."

"So ya prepared for everyone ta treat ya like a whore? Prob'ly won't be allowed ta visit Carl no more, hell, the damn farmers so religious he'd prob'ly kick all our asses outta here. An' you're tellin' me that's just peachy wit'cha?"

Ray chewed her lip for a moment before sighing heavily. "I guess not."

. . .

Ray sat in between Daryl and Merle, watching as Carol loaded plates and handed them out to the group. Even as lost in thought as she was she couldn't help but notice how full Carol had loaded Daryl's plate was- especially compared to hers. In fact, her plate was by far the skimpiest of the lot. She should probably try and make friends with the woman- if only not to starve. She sighed heavily as the 'campers' finished their meals.

"Goodnight." She said softly, giving Merle a light peck on the cheek and, offering Daryl a small smile, she stood. Now where had Carol gone off? She gave a squeak as she literally ran right into said woman. "Carol! I'm sorry! I-"

Carol cut her off. "Don't think he can't see what you're doing." She glared.

What? "Huh?"

"It's not right to try and mess with his head. You're as screwed up as his brother."

Well that was just rude. "How dare you! You don't know the first thing about either of them! And you're calling Merle and I messed up? You're the one trying to get it on with a man you barely know while your daughter is missing!"

Carol gasped. "You tired to fuck Merle the day you met him!"

Rachel laughed derisively. "Two things lady, one-I only had to worry about me; it's nice to see how you just passed over the whole part about your daughter, and two-I didn't just try. In fact, if it wouldn't have been for the walkers we would have already fucked each other silly. At least when I try to get sideways with someone it works. How's it working for you?"

A loud slap echoed around the camp as Carol's hand connected with Rachel's face. "I'll give you that one-only because I know hurt prides a bitch. But don't you ever touch me again, got it?"

Something in Rachel's face must have been terrifying (or maybe Carol was scared of finally having grown a pair), but whatever the reason she skittered off with a last "At least Daryl looks for Sophia, you do nothing all day."

~Present Time~

Rachel had been so butt hurt about the fight and Carols accurate observation there at the end, that she had taken off right then and there to go look for Sophia. And then she was screwed. Leave it to an angry, jealous, woman with some bruised pride to go kid finding, in the dark, in the woods, with no weapon. She was getting dizzy from lack of oxygen and knew it was just a matter of time before she passed out.

"Come on, come on." She muttered, straining her eyes at the forest around her. All she needed was one lousy lowish branch... She grinned triumphantly as she finally saw what she was looking for. Without sparing a glance behind her she threw her arms up and jumped, swinging with all her might to launch her body into the tree. She scrambled quickly up higher and higher into the branches, giving a grateful sigh as she leaned against the trunk, closing her eyes for just a few minutes...

. . .

"Are you going to sleep all day?" An exasperated voice sounded above her.

Rachel gave a small shriek, rolling off of the branch she had apparently dozed off on. It was pure luck that she managed to grab onto the branch so that she ended up hanging upside down, looking every inch like some sort of hanging monkey. She squinted up into the branches, almost letting to in shock.

"You have got to be shitting me."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N~ A million and one apologies for being MIA for so long! I've been dealing with a lot of excruciatingly boring personal issues that I won't trouble you all with ;). Thank you to everyone that is still sticking with this story! It may or may not take time but I promise I will finish this! That being said I want to thank everyone that has read, reviewed, and/or favorited! Going back and looking at my reviews really gets me thinking about all of you who are waiting and it kicks my ass into gear! Much love to you all!**

**~hateofme**

**. . .**

Merle was pissed. Well, more exactly he was worried but angry was a good standby; besides no way in hell was he going to let on that he was actually worried about a piece of ass that he had yet to have. No. Not at all. He peered over at Daryl surreptitiously trying not to move and draw attention to himself. One look at his brother and he knew he was just as worried. There he sat fletching some arrows glaring at the fire like it was personally to blame for Ray running off. Merle grunted and turned back towards the fire, somehow managing to look like a sullen pouting child; arms crossed, bottom lip out, and all.

. . .

Daryl had had enough. He let his eyes wonder over the silent campers mentaly scoffing at the way they all avoided his gaze. Finally, he let his eyes stop at Merle and wasnt sure whether to laugh or clock him in the jaw. He looked like a spoilt little kid. Fuck it. He let the arrows fall to the ground as he stood, swinging his crossbow onto his back. The arrows were shit anyhow, wasn't like he'd been concentrating on them that well.

"C'mon." He grunted stalking towards Merle.

"The fuck ya on about boy?" Merle snapped back, his glare leaving the fire to focus on Daryl.

"'M goin' to look for her. You comin' or not?"

Merle returned to scowling at the fire, re-crossing his arms. "Fuck no. S'almos' dark. I ain't riskin' my ass fer hers. 'Sides, she's tha damn fool that done run off. Ain't my prob'lem."

Forget it. He didn't want to laugh; he wanted to plant his fist into Merle's goddamn scull. "Whatever." He muttered turning purposefully to let his elbow catch the back of Merle's head hard as he stalked off towards the woods.

Merle scoffed and glowered at Daryl's back but just as he was about to speak he was cut off by another voice.

"Woah, woah, hey!" Shane ran towards Daryl palms up as if to show he came in peace. The effect was diminished of course by Shane's tone and general attitude. "You can't just run around out there in the dark by yourself! Girl ran barefoot around Atlanta for two weeks, she can survive a night in the woods. We can't have everyone just runnin' off!"

Daryl continued walking trying, in spite of the tension that was rolling off of him, to ignore the cop.

Merle stood and swaggered over to the pair with everyone eyeing him warily. "Well now Walsh. I don't recall askin' fer permission. Run along an' go play deputy someplace else." He slapped his hand on Daryl's back, chortling when he shrugged it off. "C'mon now Darylina, ain't got all night."

Daryl shrugged his shouldres roughly, ignoring the fact that Merle had already said that he wasnt coming, and took off into the woods with Merle close behind.

. . .

Dawn had alredy broken and rays of sunlight cracked trough the ees where it could. After her rather rude awakening and a low "My mommy says thats a bad word." Rachel was ready to tear her hair out. Not because Sophia was horrible or anything mind you. No, this had more to do with the fact that they were still stuck in a tree and at least four new walkers had added themselves to the fray sometime in the night.

"Are we going to be stuck here forever?" Sophia whispered, clearly frightened by the prospect.

_Weellll it's a possibility_, she thought, wisely refraining from saying it aloud. Of course of all the words she could associate with herself right now wise was probably not the right one. "Nah, worse comes to worst I'll distract them and you'll at least be able to make a run for a different tree." Sophia didn't look like she thought that was a good plan at all.

"Ummm. Is that a good idea?" She asked hesitantly.

Rachel sighed. "I'm gonna level with you kid- I have no idea what I'm doing."

Sophia looked shocked. "What?" She asked with her lip beginning to quiver.

_Great. Carl was so much easier to deal with- he didn't cry._ "I don't have a gun, much less know how to use one, I have no idea how to find my way back, and there are very few if any people who will care enough that I'm gone to come looking for me." She paused with a frown thinking. "And quiet honestly with how much everyone's been looking I have no idea how they haven't found you yet." She turned and stared at the girl. "Have you been in trees this whole time?"

"Is that bad?"

Ray grinned. "It's genius kid! There's adults back at camp that probably couldn't survive as long as you have on their own!" At this Sophia gave her a wide if hesitant smile. Yeah, she felt a little better but they were still stuck in a damn tree.

. . .

"Hold up man." Daryl spoke lowly trying to get his brothers attention, of course Merle ignored him and kept tromping through the underbrush. He actually wondered if he was doing it on purpose. "Merle!" He snapped again in a harsh whisper.

"God dammit! What the hell you want ya damn pussy? You scared or sum'thin? Want me ta come back there an' hold yer hand?" Merle sneered agitatedly.

Daryl shook his head tightly, motioning to the tracks he had just found. Now that Merle had shut the hell up they could hear growls in the distance. The two men gave each other a dark look and then headed off, much quieter than they had started.

. . .

Rachel lay on a sturdy branch with Sophia tucked into her chest, sighing at the amount of walkers that were surrounding them. If she didn't know better she'd think that they had figured out how to clone themselves...which in a sense they could. Ugh. She kept running her fingers through Sophia's short hair. At least it was something to do.

"Ouch!" The kid cried lightly as her hand tangled in a rather large snarl. "Sorry." She whispered obviously afraid of Rachel's reaction to her making noise.

"At this point Soph, I don't think it matters if we sing a song and dance a jig. They're not going anywhere."

"It's ok." The little girl spoke confidently. "Mr. Shane will find us."

Rachel snorted. "Yeah kid, Mr. Shane's a regular hoover tracker. Real knows how to rough it wild man."

Sophia didn't catch the sarcasm and nodded happily. "He was nice at the quarry. Even though it made my daddy mad."

Ouch. Well she felt like a real bitch now. She realized the walkers were growing restless and hoped that meant there was some unfortunate soul that they were going to chase down. Yeah, it was heartless but she'd rather her and Sophia escaped than someone she didn't know. She jumped when a walker went down with a familiar looking arrow protruding from its head. "Ready to go to camp kid?" She asked grinning.

Sophia nodded her head wildly. "Yeah!"

Within minutes the walkers were dispatched and a gore drenched Merle and fairly blood free Daryl emerged from the woods. Merle stopped at the base of the tree looking up. "Well, lookie here! Two missin' l'il girls." He wore quite the scowl and he didn't sound happy. Rachel winced. She had a feeling whatever was going to come next wasn't for children's ears.

. . .

She had been right of course, Merle had had nothing to say that was fit for Sophia's ears and when she had politely reminded him of that he fell silent. Not a good silent, the kind of silent that when he actually spoke again it was going to be very very bad. As they trudged into camp with her and Sophia in the rear, they heard voices calling from up ahead. Ray was positive with how fast the brothers were walking that they were trying to lose her again, indeed they were so far ahead she had trouble making them out in the distance. She was feeling fairly bad that they had come out to look for her and it was on the tip of her tongue to call out and apologize when they reached the edge of the clearing. Of course then she saw Carol rush up to Daryl and put her hand on his arm. It was obvious the woman hadn't seen her or her daughter yet.

"You tried Daryl." Carols voice carried over to her.

Just the sight of that woman's hand on him had her sure there was steam coming out of her ears. And then she kissed his cheek. And he did nothing but look at her oddly. Ray stomped up to the pair with Sophia in tow.

"Maybe you could stop throwing yourself at him long enough to say hello." She snapped waspishly.

Carol spun, obviously surprised that she was there. "I- Sophia!" She rushed past Rachel and enveloped the child in a hug. "Thank you Daryl!" The woman sobbed with tears running down her face.

Resisting the urge to say anything more in front of Sophia Ray gave the girl a small smile and headed off toward her tent. As she neared the comforting structure she was enveloped in a large hug.

"Damn girl!" T-dog exclaimed. "Don't be scaring me like that!"

"Hey T."

He noticed her tone and looked down at her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm on the celibacy wagon."

"Uhh..."

She shook her head with a sad grin. "Don't ask unless you're offering to help me fall off the wagon T."

. . .

Dinner that night was supposedly festive but Ray's heart wasn't in it. Stupid Dixon's. Stupid Carol. She had had enough. Setting her plate down she began to walk towards the edge of the clearing intending to walk in a large circle and then go to sleep when a large hand caught her arm.

"Didn't spend all night lookin' fer ya to have ya run off again." Merle growled.

"Of course not. You just did it so you could ignore me as soon as you found me." She muttered.

"The fuck you say?" There was a warning in his tone that she deliberately ignored.

"I didn't stutter." The thought crossed her mind that this was a bad idea as he slammed her into a nearby tree.

"Bitch, I was up half the god damn night lookin' fer ya ass. Don' push it." He growled inches from her face.

She couldn't bring herself to stand down- at least now he was paying attention to her. "Oooh, I'm real scared. What are you gonna do? Ignore me some more? Throw some more dirty looks my way?"

As his eyes narrowed she prepared herself for a good smack- he looked like that's what he wanted to do. She wasn't prepared then when his mouth came crashing down on hers. There was nothing gentle or sweet about this kiss, it almost wasn't even sexual. It was almost as if he was trying to dominate her, to let her know just who exactly was in charge. Her lips parted underneath the pressure and he drove his tongue into her mouth insistently. Almost too soon he pulled back breathing hard.

"Don't try an' play games sugar-I'll win." He snarled.

_Games? What the hell was he talking about? _"Are you high?"

He glared at her and fisted his hand in the hair at the nape of her neck. "Shut ya mouth."

"Fuck you."

"Poor choice a words darlin'." He grinned evilly before claiming her mouth in another bruising kiss.

For a man that had attempted to saw off his own hand he certainly was 'all hands' now. As Merle roughly shoved one hand under her shirt and bra she saw stars. Of course she wasn't sure whether the stars had to do with that, his current kiss, or the fact that he had slammed her head into the tree. It befuddled her that she really didn't care which as long as he didn't realize how much she was enjoying herself. She heard a low moan followed by a chuckle and scowled when she realized that the moan had come from her. Well, two could play at that game. And just like that she was an active participant, pulling at his belt and pants, rushing to get them off. As soon as she pulled at his clothes Merle went still as though rethinking what he was doing.

"Dear god if you stop right now I'll chop off your dick because _clearly_ its useless." Ray growled almost petulantly.

"Gotta say woman, that image don't exact'ly get me ready to go."

She looked up at him in disbelief. "Your hand is down my pants. If that doesn't get you 'ready to go' then you're batting for the other team."

Another scowl developed on his face. "Ain't no queer." He exchanged the scowl for a predatory leer. "But uh, ya don't have ta take my word fer it. Be happy ta show ya."

"Well, it _sounds_ like you're happy to sit here and talk. Should we sit and have a real heart to heart?"

She really shouldn't poke at the man but damn, the results were euphoric. With a snarl he was ripping at her jeans and underwear yanking them down her hips, and pulling her into another kiss while she somehow managed to shimmy the clothing off. Merle didn't even bother with taking his off and instead let them hang low around his knees. There was no warning, no pause, no are you sure or are you ready, one moment she was waiting and the next she was braced up against the tree as Merle plunged into her.

"Oh. Fuck. Me." Ray breathed in awe. This was soo much better than she remembered.

Merle gave a strained chuckle. "That's tha idea."

She couldn't even come up with anything to say, and she was sure there was a comeback for that. Apparently Merle had the power to reduce her into a blithering, inarticulate, idiot. Who knew? All thought was ripped violently from her mind as he began to thrust and she threw her head back, ignoring the impact from the tree.

"Havin' fun yet?" He snarled, pulling at her hair.

"Soon. I'll let you know soon." She managed to gasp out.

He seemed to take that as a challenge as he gave another low growl and tore his hand out of her hair only to place it under her shirt. His mouth was on her neck, sucking hard and in the way distant back part of her mind she felt slightly disgruntled that he was trying to leave a mark. Her suspicion was confirmed as he pulled away, looking at the spot he had worked on and smirked. As soon as his eyes met hers his smirk widened. And holy crap, Ray was almost certain she had just had a small orgasm just because of his smirk. Well, his smirk in addition to other things obviously.

"Fuck." Merle groaned as he felt her get even wetter around him. He bucked up into her hard, needing to get as deep as he could, needing to somehow convey that he had indeed been worried. Sure, he was inflicting a little pain but he felt she deserved it just for the fact that she somehow got him to the point where he worried. Besides, he thought, she seems ta like it.

Rachel could feel the bark snagging on her shirt and pulling, cutting into her back, and she didn't care. To her it only enforced that this was real. The slight pain helped keep her grounded; this wasn't yet another unfulfilling dream or fantasy.

"So god damn wet for me, huh." Merle grunted as he watched her face.

"Merle, please just make me cum."

Part of him was pissed that she was trying to weakly order him around but another part focused on the please and decided to take it as begging. And damn if it wasn't a nice feelin' ta have a woman beggin' fer ya dick. "Yes ma'm." He grinned sarcastically, reaching a hand down to her clit.

A few rough thrusts and strokes on that hard nub had her exploding around him and he quickly smashed his mouth onto hers to swallow her scream. He didn't last long after she let her head thud onto his shoulder, and he came with a strangled grunt, trying to hold the noise in. As they both collapsed on the forest floor he heard her giggle. No. That's definitely not a noise you want to hear associated with sex any day.

"You got a prob'lem?"

Ray smiled over to him with her eyes bright. "Will this happen every time I run off? Cause I could go get lost in like five minutes flat."

Merle grinned rakishly. "Ain't no need fer that darlin', we already here ain't we?" And with that he pounced on her quickly stoping her squeal with his lips.

. . .

As Rachel and Merle snuck back into camp late that night it seemed everyone had gone to sleep and they sighed in relief. There were bound to be consequences if someone caught them. Neither noticed the Dixon's tent flap shift quickly as they walked by it. Merle took Ray to her tent, gave her a nice long kiss, and then headed on back to his. Daryl was assed out on his cot facing the tent and Merle breathed a soft sigh of relief. Eventually he would find out of course, but that didn't mean he wanted to deal with it now.


End file.
